Angel
by dncnmndy
Summary: When Angela's life is threatened by a deranged stalker, the Rangers jump into action but they soon find out that there may be more than one life at stake.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey all! After a ridiculously long hiatus due to writer's block and a crazy life, I've decided to try my hand at writing again. Let me know what you think of this one; I'm always open to suggestions/criticism. Enjoy!**

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><p>They were all lined up in the hallway: Walker, Trivette, Gage, Sydney, and Alex. It was six in the morning but each of them was wide awake. They wanted to be awake for this, wanted to be able to remember every second of what was about to happen. They were all armed, even Alex. She had an important role in this operation too. Besides, she knew how to shoot; Walker had taught her.<p>

Slowly and deliberately, Walker slid the key the building manager had given him into the lock of the apartment door. The lock clicked and Walker opened the door, peering inside and raising his gun. They filed into the tiny apartment in a line, one right after another. Trivette went in last, and he softly shut the door behind him. They passed through the living room and kitchen and walked down a short hallway past the bathroom. Finally, they arrived in the back bedroom. A laptop was open on the desk, the screensaver flashing. Their target was lying sprawled on a double bed in the far corner of the room. They all moved into position: Walker and Alex at the foot of the bed and the rest evenly spaced out on the side. At a nod from Walker, they raised their weapons and opened fire without another warning.

Angela shrieked as the icy water streaming from the Super Soakers hit her from all directions. Spluttering, she sat up and shook the water out of her face.

"Happy birthday!" five voices shouted simultaneously.

"Awesome. Thanks guys, thanks a lot." She muttered, wringing the water out of her hair and glancing at her clock. "Really? Six in the morning? I don't have class for another three hours." She stared at her parents and grinned. "You better have doughnuts."

Walker reached over and wrapped his daughter in a bear hug, kissing her forehead. "Happy birthday, Angel." He whispered.

A few hours later, the Super Soaker free group was sitting on bleachers watching Angela's soccer team annihilate the visiting team. Angela herself was on fire, having already scored a goal and assisted on one other.

Walker watched his daughter with an immense amount of pride. She'd been athletic ever since she was little and soccer had quickly become her sport of choice. In fact, soccer was one of the reasons she had picked this particular school; she could play Division 1 soccer and study criminology; the only two requirements she had in a school. Walker and Alex approved; it didn't hurt that Angela was only two hours from home.

"And Walker runs up the field, she has a free shot and takes it, and…GOAL!"

The crowd surged and Walker stood with the rest. Angela was engulfed by her teammates as the final buzzer sounded, ending the game. In the midst of the celebrations, she glanced into the stands and offered a half salute to her personal cheering section. They all waved back and went about gathering all of their stuff. Sydney, Gage, and Trivette started down the stairs, heading toward the field. Walker and Alex were right behind them, but stopped when a man in the stands called out to them.

"Excuse me!" He hurried down the stairs to catch up with them. "Sorry to hold you up; are you Angela Walker's parents, by any chance?"

"Yes, we're Angela's parents." Walker affirmed.

The man stuck out his hand. "I'm Professor Collins, I teach criminology classes here. Angela's in my introductory course. I just wanted to tell you what a spectacular daughter you have. She's going to go far in this world."

"Thank you." Alex smiled. "We're very proud of her."

Professor Collins smiled warmly. "Well, I won't hold you up. I'm sure you have some celebrating to do."

After shaking hands one last time, Walker and Alex made their way down to the field where Angela had already reunited with Sydney, Gage, and Trivette. The four were making dinner plans.

"Mom, Dad! Italian?" Angela bounded over to them, her energy never faltering.

"Whatever you want sweetie." Alex answered.

"Okay! Let me go get changed. Be right back!" She ran off to the locker room, jumping on one of her teammate's backs when she caught up to them.

Alex turned to her husband, snaking her arms around his back and looking up at him. "I'm thinking we did pretty well with her Mr. Walker."

"I'd have to agree with you, Mrs. Walker." He leaned in and kissed his wife, only stopping when Trivette cleared his throat.

"Get a room you two." He smirked.

Walker didn't have time to respond before Angela returned.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Sure, let's go." Walker said, draping his arm around one of her shoulders and steering her off the field.

Dinner was excellent and spirits were high as everyone left to drive back to Dallas. Angela was left waving good bye as Walker's truck and Gage's sedan drove off into the darkness. Still smiling at one of the jokes Trivette had shared at dinner, she turned started the short walk back to her apartment.

She paused and turned her head, sensing someone walking behind her. Reaching her hand into her bag and fingering the pepper spray she kept there, she started walking again. She increased her pace when she realized that she was in fact hearing footsteps behind her. She was about to break into a run when she heard someone call her name.

"Angela?"

She whirled around, whipping her arm out of her bag, pepper spray in hand, and barked a laugh of relief when she recognized the face behind her.

"You scared me! I thought everyone would be headed home by now." She laughed again, feeling the tension leave her body.

He smiled. "Sorry Angela. I thought that was you. I was going to offer to walk you back to your apartment; it's late."

She considered the nervous state she'd been in only a minute ago. "Sure, that would be great." She smiled and slipped the pepper spray back into her bag.

"Great job at the game today, by the way." He smiled.

"Thanks! It was a good one."

"And happy birthday." He smiled his usual charming and disarming smile.

"Nineteen's not really a big one." Angela replied.

"I don't know about that. Big things can happen any time."

"Fair enough." Angela responded. "Well, this is me." She said, as they approached her apartment building. "Thanks for walking me back; I appreciate it." She smiled.

"Not a problem. I feel better knowing you're safe. I mean, it's not a good idea to walk around campus alone at night."

"You're probably right. Well, thanks again."

"Talk to you soon, Angela. Sleep well."

Angela offered a small wave in his direction as she entered the building.

The man stood outside the building until he saw the light in her apartment come on. "Sleep well Angel." He whispered before turning and walking off into the night.


	2. Chapter 2

Walker peered at his wife as she sipped her daily morning cup of coffee. She'd abandoned her seat across from him at the kitchen table a few minutes earlier and was now staring resolutely out the window, gripping her mug in both hands.

Walker set his paper down on the table and walked over to where Alex was standing. Snaking his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder he asked "What's up?"

Alex sighed. "Nothing."

"Really." Walker responded, kissing her cheek. "Then why haven't you said a single word this morning?"

"No reason." Alex replied, sipping her coffee. Alex knew that if she told Walker what she was thinking, he would overreact.

"No reason? Come on Counselor, you're not that good of a liar." Walker smirked.

Alex sighed. "Angela." Feeling Walker pull back and picturing the reassuring look on his face, Alex plowed on. "Walker, she didn't call on Sunday. It's Tuesday, she should have called by now."

Walker spun his wife gently by the shoulders until she was facing him. "Alex, she's in college. She got busy and she forgot to call."

"She's never forgotten to call before." Alex protested. "And…I tried calling her cell and she didn't answer."

"Alex." Walker groaned. "Let's go over this again. She's in _college_. Give her some space."

Alex sighed, "Fine, you're right." She smiled thinly. "I'm going to go get ready for work." She gave Walker a kiss and headed up the stairs. She shut the door to the bedroom and pulled out her cell phone. Dialing Angela's cell phone, she listened to it ring, closing her eyes in exasperation when she heard her voicemail pick up.

"Angela, its mom. I know I've already left you a message, okay fine, a couple messages, but I'm really worried about you. Call me, please." She flipped her phone shut and tossed it onto the bed.

Pulling clothes out of her closet, Alex tried to put her daughter out of her mind. Walker was right, she needed to learn to let go.

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><p>"What's up partner?" Trivette greeted Walker as he came in the door of Ranger Headquarters.<p>

Walker settled into his chair. "Not much. What's going on here?"

Trivette leaned back and laced his fingers behind his head. "Not a thing. Looks like the bad guys are taking the week off."

It was true. Granted, it was only Tuesday, but still, two days without a serious issue was unheard of. That's not to say they hadn't been busy; they'd been serving warrants pretty much non-stop since Monday morning.

"What've we got today?" Walker asked.

"Well," Trivette said, sitting up and opening a screen on his computer, "Sydney and Gage are already running down the Sanders warrant. Assuming all goes smoothly, they're going to hit Kaufman and Dennison after that, which leaves us with Jackson and Wright. Shouldn't be too bad. You and Alex doing anything tonight?"

"I think we're going to hit CD's after we're done here. I know she wouldn't complain if you came along. Sydney and Gage are probably going to come too."

"Where are we going?" Gage asked, strolling into the office with Sydney trailing behind him, pulling a handcuffed Paul Sanders by the arm. She shoved him down into a chair and walked over to where everyone else had congregated around Walker's desk.

"CD's." Trivette answered. "You in?"

"Uh, yeah. I think I could go for some ribs." Gage answered, stretching back and rubbing his toned stomach that did not yield any evidence of the three thousand calories he consumed daily. "What about you Syd?"

"I'm in. I could use a decent burger." She agreed, swatting Gage on the back of the head when his arm bumped her.

"Hey Shorty, cut it out."

"Well, stop taking up so much space Francis." She joked, dodging the punch he aimed at her arm.

The two feinted back and forth for a few more minutes, trading verbal jabs while Walker and Trivette egged them on. Finally, Walker spoke up.

"Okay. Sydney and Gage, you two go run down those other warrants. Trivette and I will take our two, and we'll meet at CD's later."

"Sounds good, boss." Gage said, and loped out of the office. Sydney followed behind him, grabbing her jacket along the way.

"Later boss!"

"Well, you ready partner?" Trivette asked.

"Let's do it." Walker said, grabbing his hat. "I'm hungry already."

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><p>Later that night, the mood was high as everyone ate and chatted at CD's. Jokes and anecdotes that never got old were told and retold and Walker was pleased to note that Alex seemed to have put Angela out of her mind. He loved his daughter, but she was in college and there was no reason to expect her to call every Sunday.<p>

No sooner had that thought left his mind than his cell phone rang. Standing and stepping away from the table, he answered it.

"Walker."

"Hi, Mr. Walker?"

"Yes, who's this?"

"This is Kelly Litchfield, I'm on Angela's soccer team."

Walker filed through his mental Rolodex, trying to place the name with a face. He vaguely remembered seeing 'Litchfield' on the back of a jersey at the soccer game they'd gone to for Angela's birthday two months ago.

"Sure Kelly. What can I do for you?"

"Well, we, I mean, our soccer team, we just wanted to check in with you and see how things were going."

"I'm sorry, Kelly, I don't know what you're talking about. What has Angela been saying?" Walker asked, his tension level growing.

"Well, Coach told us on Monday at practice that he'd gotten an email from Angela, telling him that she needed to go home for a few days to deal with a family emergency. We all just figured that she would keep us updated, but none of us have heard from her. Her cell keeps going to voicemail, so I wanted to call and make sure everything was okay."

"Kelly, there's no family emergency." Walker said, trying to keep his voice even. "We haven't heard from Angela for a few days. When did you get this email?"

"Coach said she sent it to him on Saturday night. Mr. Walker, if she's not at home with you, then where is she?"

"Kelly, where are you now?"

"In my apartment. I live next door to Angela."

"Do me a favor. Go knock on her door."

"Okay, hang on."

Walker held his breath, listening to Kelly knock on Angela's door.

"Mr. Walker, she's not answering. I have her spare key, do you want me to go in?"

Walker weighed his options. It was going to take him at least two hours to get there, if Angela was hurt or sick, he needed someone in there now. "Kelly, go ahead. But stay on the phone with me, tell me everything you see."

"Okay." Walker heard the sound of a key being turned in a lock, then the soft creak of a door.

"What do you see, Kelly?"

"I'm in her kitchen; it doesn't look like anything is wrong. Her bathroom is empty too."

"What about her bedroom?"

"Hang on…it's empty." Kelly said, concern lacing her voice.

"Kelly, this is important, tell me what it looks like. Tell me everything you see. Start with one corner of the room and work your way through it."

"Okay. Her bed isn't made; it normally is. We always joke with her about that. And her phone isn't on her nightstand where it usually is. I don't see her phone anywhere. The clothes she wore on Saturday night are on the top of her laundry pile…Mr. Walker, I don't see – oh my God…Mr. Walker, I think there might be blood on the corner of her bookshelf, and on the floor. Oh my God." Kelly's voice broke.

"Kelly, how much blood is there?" Walker asked.

"I don't know. Not a lot. But more than a few drops. Mr. Walker, what's going on?"

"I don't know Kelly but I'm going to find out. I'm on my way there now, I want you to lock Angela's apartment back up the way you found it. You said you live next door?"

"Yes, on the left."

"Okay. I'm on my way; wait in your apartment until I get there."

Walker disconnected the call without waiting for a response, mentally kicking himself for dismissing Alex's worries. Turning and mentally preparing himself to tell his wife about the conversation he'd just had, he was uncharacteristically startled to turn around and be suddenly face to face with his wife; Trivette, Sydney, and Gage were standing behind her, still within earshot.

"Something's wrong, isn't it?" Alex asked, tears welling in her eyes. "Walker, what's happened? What's wrong with my baby?"

He pulled Alex close to him and she buried her face in his chest. "I don't know." He said, just as he had to Kelly. "But we're going to find out."

Without another word, he steered his wife out of the restaurant, his fellow Rangers following close behind. They gunned their cars out of the parking lot and blasted their lights and sirens.

As he drove, Walker punched Angela's cell phone number into his phone, his heart skipping a beat every time it rang. When her voicemail finally picked up, he spoke in a tone that, to Angela would hopefully be reassuring while at the same time scaring the crap out of whoever had taken her. He refused to believe that his daughter was dead. Certainly, he would know that.

"Angel, I'm coming for you. Stay strong baby, we're all coming for you. And I promise you that I will take down anyone who stands in my way."

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><p>"Isn't that sweet."<p>

Angela stared up at the masked man standing in front of her, willing herself not to show how scared she was. It didn't help that whatever voice distortion device he was using made his voice low and robotic, contributing to her disorientation. He'd just finished playing her father's message on her cell phone, as he'd done with all the messages she'd gotten since he'd taken her.

"Looks like Daddy finally got worried. And it only took him three days." He bent down until his eyes, slits through his mask, were level with hers. "How does it feel, _Angel_? How does it feel to know that it takes Daddy Dearest three days to miss you? Guess he's not so perfect after all." He barked a laugh that would have been creepy even without the voice changing device. "Guess we'll just have to wait and see how long it takes him to find you. We'll see how _determined_ and _brave_ he is. Until then…" he let his voice trail off as he backed out of the closet he was keeping her in, slamming the door and plunging her into darkness once again.

As soon as the door closed, she went to work trying to pull her wrists free; they were bound with zip ties to the arms of the chair she was sitting in and her legs were in a similar state. Another tie around her neck kept her from leaning forward and ripping the tape off her mouth; she could barely move her head in any direction.

Temporarily giving up her struggles as her raw wrists demanded, she leaned her head back against the wall of the closet. She didn't even remember getting here. She remembered going dancing with her teammates on Saturday night, and coming home and falling asleep almost immediately. She remembered waking up in the middle of the night when someone jumped on top of her. She'd thought she was dreaming, and when she'd realized she wasn't, she'd managed to throw the intruder off and roll out of bed. He was fast though, he grabbed her from behind and she fell before she could scream, hitting her head on the corner of her bookshelf. Then it was black until she'd woken up in here a few days ago, tied to this same chair. She'd tried screaming at first but the tape over her mouth muffled almost every noise she tried to make. She'd felt a surge of relief when the door to the closet had opened; that relief fading quickly when she realized that the person who opened it was masked, and certainly not a friend.

"Ah, look who's awake!" he'd chirped. She was pretty sure it was a man, but not positive. He'd brushed her cheek lightly and tilted her head to get a better look at the cut from her bookshelf. "Nothing serious." He'd declared, then left, slamming the door behind him.

Her captor was gone for long periods of time each day, returning every night, or so she assumed. Her closet didn't have windows. He let her out once a day to use the bathroom, blindfolding her first. As time had gone on, the bathroom ritual had become unnecessary; he hadn't given her any food since she'd been here, and he only gave her a cup of water each night.

Reflecting on this fact awakened the hunger in her stomach and she fought off the uncomfortable feeling of emptiness.

Eventually, she succumbed to sleep; a combination of exhaustion and hunger. Only after she'd been asleep for an hour did her captor open the door and glance in on her.

"Sleep well, Angel." He whispered before pressing his lips to the cool duct tape that covered hers and closing the door once again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! Hope you're enjoying the story so far. Let me know if you are (or aren't) by leaving a review! Thanks!**

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><p>The ride to Angela's apartment was mostly silent, punctured only by the occasional deep breaths Alex took to control her quiet sobs. Walker stayed focused on the road, checking every few minutes to make sure that Trivette, Gage, and Sydney were still following close behind him. After an hour of careful thought and analysis, he had no clue as to who would have had a motive to kidnap his daughter. He wasn't working on any high profile cases; he hadn't been notified of any prison releases that would threaten his family. Try as he might, he couldn't come up with any viable suspects that would be related to his work.<p>

Alex took another deep breath that jerked Walker out of his thoughts. Taking one hand off the steering wheel, he grasped his wife's hand, needing her comfort as much as she needed his. To his surprise, she jerked her hand away and pressed her forehead against the window of his truck.

Mistaking her anger for desperation, he said softly, "Alex, we're going to find her. She's going to be fine."

Alex finally snapped. "How do you know that, Walker? How can you possibly know that? You can't know everything. Oh, wait, I forgot. This is _you_ we're talking about. The famous Cordell Walker, he can do anything, he can save anyone! What if you can't this time Walker?"

"Alex-"

"I _tried_ to tell you that something was wrong. I told you on Sunday night when she didn't call that something was wrong. And you blew me off. Monday, still nothing, absolutely no concern from you. I was worried, I told you that! And I got nothing from you. 'Give her space, Alex. She's in college Alex.' That's what you said to me. So I gave her space, and now look what's happened! Damn it Walker, she could be dead already!" She had surprised herself with that last sentence, and her hands grabbed at her chest like she was physically in pain. "Oh, my baby." She whispered before burying her face in her hands and finally letting loose.

Walker placed his hand between her shoulder blades and, sensing no resistance, pulled her toward him. Tearing his eyes away from the road for a second, he looked at his wife and wanted more than anything to make her pain go away. "We _will_ find her, Alex. We will."

"Oh Walker, what if she's already gone? What if there's nothing left to find?"

"She's alive." Walker said. "We would know if she wasn't." Whether or not that was true, Walker knew his wife needed to hear it. And so did he.

When they pulled up to Angela's apartment building, Walker and Alex stormed inside, Trivette trailing behind. Gage and Sydney went to the apartment manager's office to see if he knew anything.

The manager was a portly man, badly dressed in a red button down shirt and navy blue gym shorts. Gray hair sprouted out the tops of his socks and shirt, making up for the lack of hair on his head. Brown sandals rounded out the look, and Sydney had a fleeting mental laugh at his expense before composing her face into the professional, bad-ass look she tended to favor.

"What can I do for ya?" the manager greeted, mopping his sweaty forehead with the hem of his shirt and exposing an extraordinarily hairy gut that protruded over the waistband of his shorts.

"I'm Ranger Gage, this is Ranger Cooke." Gage said, smoothly covering Sydney's speechlessness at the sight in front of them. She quickly cleared her throat and fixed her eyes at a spot slightly above the manager's head, so as not to tempt herself into laughing again.

"Rangers, huh? I was almost a Ranger myself you know. Decided it wasn't for me and got into real estate instead." The manager nodded.

"Right. Well, we're here about one of your tenants that has gone missing. Angela Walker?" Sydney inquired.

"Missing, you say? As in, disappeared?"

"Yes, missing." Gage responded tersely.

"Wow. Let me look her up. Just a sec." The manager tapped some keys and clicked the mouse of his computer. "Okay, Angela Walker. She's in apartment 49."

"Yeah, we know that already." Sydney said.

"Then what else do you want from me? Need some expertise? I was almost a Ranger myself, you know."

"I'm sure. We believe she disappeared on late Saturday night or very early Sunday morning. Do you have security cameras?"

"Well sure, we have them on the entrances and exits." He paused, evidently waiting for the next question.

"Could we take a look at them?" Sydney said slowly, her patience wavering.

"Well, you could. But most of them are broken. I just keep them there to scare people off, you know. A little scare tactic." He preened, evidently under the impression that he was the same caliber as the two Rangers in his office.

"Do any of them work?" Gage demanded.

"Uh, just the one in the parking garage. It hasn't gone out yet."

"Could we take a look at those tapes please?"

"Help yourselves. They're not sorted or anything, so you'll have to do some digging."

Sydney lost it. "This isn't some joke! Bring us all the damn tapes, we'll take them with us."

"I can't let you do that!" The manager declared, apparently taken aback by the sudden change in tone.

"Like hell you can't." Sydney spat.

"I suggest you listen to my partner. Go get the tapes." Gage advised.

Huffing and puffing, the manager walked to a small room at the back of his office, returning a few minutes later with a bulging bag of tapes. "These are the ones from the last two weeks or so. I just throw them away after that."

"Of course you do." Sydney snatched the tapes from him and stormed out of the office, Gage following behind.

The manager waddled after them, stopping in his doorway. "Say, do you want me to take a look? I was almost a Ranger myself, you know!" When he got no response, he despondently turned back into his office. "No respect." He muttered, mopping his forehead again.

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><p>Walker and Trivette were busy going over every inch of Angela's apartment. They'd been informed that a Crime Scene Unit would take at least six hours to get there, and Walker had refused to wait. He'd sent Trivette next door to talk to Angela's teammate, Kelly. Like Kelly had said on the phone, nothing looked out of place. Her bed was unmade, and Walker flashed back to her birthday, two months earlier. He could picture his baby girl sleeping there; see the intruder in his mind. The walls of the apartment were thin, and Kelly hadn't mentioned hearing Angela scream. Did her kidnapper inject her with a sedative, or maybe clamp a chloroform-soaked cloth over her nose and mouth before she could react? But that didn't explain the blood on the bookshelf. Thought he had no lab confirmation, he had a gut feeling that the blood was Angela's. A new scenario formed in his mind: the intruder surprised her in the bedroom and Angela fought him off. She tried to run and he tackled her, knocking her out on the bookshelf. He watched the scene play out in his mind, picturing the fright on Angela's face, and seeing only nothingness where the intruder's face should be.<p>

Alex was standing in the far corner of the bedroom, watching Walker work. She felt so helpless in this moment, knowing that anything she did would either cause her to be in the way, or compromise the forensic evidence of the case. Just when she thought she couldn't take it anymore, Trivette walked in to the room.

"Kelly couldn't give me anything new." He reported. "She says her coach told the team at Monday's practice that he'd gotten an email saying that Angela had to go home for a family emergency. Kelly didn't think anything of it. The whole team went out Saturday night to a dance club, and came home at one on Sunday morning. Kelly said she watched Angela go into her apartment, and didn't hear anything else for the rest of the night."

He wrapped up just as Gage and Sydney walked in. Sydney held up the bag of tapes. "This is what the idiot of an apartment manager could give us. They're all mixed up, so we're going to have to watch them one by one." She reported, obviously angered by the apartment manager's blasé manner of operation.

"We'll take the television in the living room." Gage declared.

"Okay, you and Sydney do that. Trivette and I will go talk to Angela's soccer coach, and the rest of her teammates." Walker decided. He turned to his wife. "Stay here. Keep your phone on, and call me if you hear anything." He instructed.

Alex nodded numbly as Walker pecked her on the cheek. She hated the feeling of being left behind and left out, even though rationally she knew there was nothing she could do about it. She wandered into the living room where Gage and Sydney were watching the surveillance videos from the parking garage. She was vaguely aware of Sydney grabbing her hand, squeezing it gently and trying to force reassurance into Alex's body. Alex squeezed back, almost unconsciously, thankful for the strength she drew from her best friend.

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><p>Angela woke suddenly, jolted by some now forgotten nightmare. She tried to stretch her aching muscles but had no success. She was still in the exact same spot she'd been in for the last four days. She tried to call out, but between her parched throat and the duct tape that seemed fused to her lips, it was useless. Her stomach rumbled and she was suddenly fighting a wave of nausea that made no sense: her stomach was completely empty. She was aware of the raging pain somewhere behind her eyes: a hunger headache. Tears of fear and frustration rolled down her cheeks, despite her best efforts to keep them in check. Was she destined to die of starvation? Here, in this cramped little closet? She vowed it wouldn't happen, and worked on relaxing the muscles in her arms and legs, and visualizing herself somewhere else, somewhere happier. The vision of her riding her beloved horse was the last thing her mind processed before she passed out again.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey all! I'm really not getting very many reviews on this story, not as many as I hoped for anyway. I appreciate everyone who is reading, but if you could leave a review and let me know what you think, I would love you even more!**

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><p>Walker and Trivette didn't have to wait long to see Angela's soccer coach; his assistant sent them right in, tossing a sympathetic look in their direction before discreetly closing the door behind them.<p>

Coach Byron Wilson stood up behind his desk, shook both of their hands, and asked them to have a seat. He wasted no time at all before diving in to Angela's disappearance.

"Here's the email I received from Angela. Or the email that I thought I received from Angela." He corrected himself, handing over a single sheet of paper. The time-stamp indicated that it had been sent at 5:46 on Monday morning.

_Coach Wilson_, the email read, _sorry for the late notice, but I'm not going to be at practice today because of a family emergency. I have to go home for a few days, so I may miss the full week of practice. I'll keep you updated. Sorry again. Angela_

"Angela's never missed a practice before, so I just figured I would take her word for it. But some of her teammates got worried after we didn't hear from her again. That's when Kelly said she would call you."

"I'm glad she did." Walker acknowledged, still gripping the email. "How had Angela been acting lately? Was she performing up to her normal standard at practice? Her grades?" Walker inquired, knowing that as her coach, he would have all this information.

"I have her most current grades, nothing out of the ordinary. She's very bright, and a damn good soccer player if I do say so myself. More than that though, she's just the one that everyone watches and admires. It would bother me if she weren't so humble and self-deprecating." Her coach smiled. "She really is an extraordinary young woman."

"Do you know anything about what went on last Saturday night?" Trivette asked.

Coach Wilson shook his head. "The girls are big into team bonding, something that Angela always spearheaded, coincidentally. I know they were planning on going out on Saturday after practice."

"Kelly said that they went dancing. Does that sound plausible?"

"It does. None of these girls are big into partying; they're serious athletes and they wouldn't do anything to compromise their position on the team." Coach Wilson declared, leaning forward. "I can guarantee you that whatever happened on Saturday night, Angela wasn't drunk, or under the influence of anything other than adrenaline."

Walker nodded. "One last question. Do you keep spare keys for the girls' apartments?"

Coach Wilson was shaking his head before Walker even finished the question. "I used to; I thought it would be a good idea for me to have them. As the years went on and times changed, I started having the girls switch keys amongst themselves. I think Kelly has Angela's spare key."

Walker knew this already, he had just wanted to hear the coach's answer and determine the probability that he had something to do with Angela's disappearance. Everything suggested that he did not, but Walker wasn't going to eliminate anyone until they found her. He stood and thanked the coach for his time before shaking his hand and heading toward the door.

"Good luck, Ranger Walker. We're all anxious to have Angela back here safely." Coach Wilson said quietly.

"Me too." Walker managed to say before exiting the office completely. Trivette nodded to the secretary and he and Walker ventured back outside into the sunshine.

"It seems so wrong." Walker said, stopping abruptly in the middle of the sidewalk.

"What does, partner?" Trivette asked.

"That the sun is still shining even though Angela's not here." He looked up at the sky, as if waiting for the clouds to roll in and the sun to disappear. He felt the pressure of Trivette's hand on his shoulder and was grateful for it; it jolted him out of his reverie and got his juices flowing again. "Let's go get this son of a bitch, Trivette." And he stomped off toward Angela's apartment building.

They let themselves into her apartment after the eight minute walk was finished. Walker timed it, just in case the knowledge would come in handy in the future. Gage, Sydney, and Alex had an image freeze-framed on Angela's television: it was a grainy picture of the apartment building's parking garage. Walker's heart sped up when he noted the time-stamp on the video: 10:30 p.m. on Saturday night.

"What've you got?" he asked them.

"We finally found the right footage. This was taken the night Angela probably disappeared." Sydney said.

"We haven't watched it yet." Gage noted, glancing at Alex.

"And I told them that I wanted to see it." Alex said, glaring back.

Walker knew that arguing with his wife would be futile. "Go ahead and play it." He instructed.

Gage obliged and for a few minutes, there was no movement on the screen whatsoever. Then a gaggle of girls came into the frame from the side, all dressed to the nines. Angela was with them.

"That must be her soccer team." Trivette observed.

The group piled into two separate cars, Angela driving one and Kelly driving the other. They pulled out at 10:46 p.m. on Saturday night. Gage sped up the tape, fast forwarding until Angela's car came back into view at 2:12 a.m. on Sunday morning. She and Kelly parked side by side and got out, letting the other girls walk into the building ahead of them. There were fewer girls than there were before; Walker knew that the soccer team was split into four different buildings across campus and assumed that Angela and Kelly had provided curbside service for the night. As he watched, Angela and Kelly linked arms and walked into the building. Gage fast-forwarded again, slowing down at any sign of movement on the screen. Finally, they hit the jackpot.

On the screen, a tall figure, probably a man, was walking slowly through the garage. The time was 3:39 a.m. on Sunday morning. Angela's arm was slung over his shoulder and her feet didn't appear to be moving. From this angle, no blood was visible. To someone who didn't know what was going on, he might have been helping a drunken Angela back to her apartment, a common enough sight on college campuses, Alex was sure. She knew her daughter didn't drink though, and she knew in her heart that this was the creature that had taken her from them. The stranger stopped at a large black SUV, parked three spots down from Angela's car. He opened the back hatch and gently laid her inside, face-up. The blood on her forehead was visible now, and Alex fought to control her reaction. Closing the hatch, the man got into his car, reversed, and was gone in a flash. The whole debacle took less than five minutes, and they didn't have a single shot of his face.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi all! Here's the next chapter, hope you like it!**

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><p>Angela was on the soccer field, cheers of the crowd ringing in her ears. Most of them were faceless blobs but she could distinctly make out the details of five faces, the five most important faces in her life. And she was suddenly seized with a premonition of danger; she stopped mid-kick and slowly revolved in one spot, looking around the field. The game hadn't stopped, the cheering hadn't stopped. Suddenly, she knew she needed to warn her family that they were in danger but as soon as she'd had that thought the scene disappeared, replaced by total darkness. She couldn't see or feel anything, it was deathly silent. But then, a piercing scream broke the air, her mother's. Screaming her name and calling for help over and over. Angela tried to make her way through the darkness to get to her but she couldn't move. Then, a gunshot sounded.<p>

She jerked awake, startled by the nightmare that was already fading out of her memory. She struggled to remember it but her food deprived brain wasn't having it. Allowing it to slip out of her grasp she focused on flexing the muscles in her arms and legs, trying to loosen them up. She'd been sitting in the same spot for four days and she'd swear she could feel her muscle tissue breaking down from lack of use. She groaned and leaned her head back against the wall, trying to take her mind off the hunger pains in her stomach. She didn't know how much more of this she could take, sitting inside this dark room all day and night, unable to move or talk, no food or water to keep her going. Her captor hadn't been back in awhile, over a day, she figured. Was this his plan? To break her down and watch her starve to death? Fear gripped her. Surely she wasn't destined to die like this. He, she was sure it was a he, wanted something from her. And he was making her weak so she couldn't fight back. The reality of that realization hit her and tremors of fear made her whole body shiver, but the weight of it strengthened her resolve. She refused to be afraid from this moment on.

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><p>Alex let out a slow breath and leaned back against the couch, not trusting her voice enough not to waver. Thankfully, Walker said what she was thinking.<p>

"We have nothing. He gets in the building, he gets out of the building. No license plate. No picture. And no contact from him at all. What does he want?" he vented, uncharacteristically losing his cool. "If he would tell us what he wants, we could track him down and get him."

Sydney and Gage exchanged a glance, neither wanting to say what was on their minds. Trivette spoke up in a low voice. "Walker, man, you have to consider the fact that this guy doesn't want ransom. Or anything from you at all."

"What are you saying?" Walker asked, challenging him to say what Walker refused to believe.

"Maybe he already has what he wants. Maybe all he wants is Angela."

"No." Alex spoke emphatically, rising from her spot on the couch. "No, Jimmy, that can't be it." She faltered. "He can't do that to my baby. That can't be it. Don't you dare tell me otherwise." She was mad now, not understanding why the words she was saying weren't making her feel any better. Walker reached for her hand but she slapped him away, storming off into Angela's bedroom. There was a quiet sob that no one acknowledged before Sydney spoke.

"Walker, Trivette's right. We need to be looking at sex offenders on and around campus. Canvas the neighbors, see if they've seen anyone out of the ordinary hanging around recently. And Walker, it's been four days." She paused. "We should think about getting some cadaver dogs out here." She said the last part softly, her heart breaking more with each word. But she had to stay objective. The first 48 hours were crucial. After that, chances of a kidnapping victim being found alive were slim.

"Dammit, Sydney, how can you say that?" Walker yelled, moving toward her. "How can you even think that?" Trivette stepped in front of Walker, pulling him away, talking softly.

Gage turned to Sydney. "Do you really think she's dead?"

"Gage, I don't know what to think. It's been four days; statistically, she's dead. Walker's gotten too used to finding Alex in the nick of time before she's been harmed. We can't go at this the same way forever. I'm trying to be realistic."

"I seem to remember you getting saved once in the nick of time. You were gone for more than 48 hours, Syd." Gage reminded her softly. "I wouldn't be so quick to assume the worst." He said cryptically. "Maybe he just wants us to stop looking. Maybe that's what he's after. Or maybe," he glanced toward the bedroom, "maybe he wants to torture them a little bit. I think we should wait and see what happens."

Before Sydney could respond, Alex's voice carried out of the bedroom.

"Walker! I found something!"

Everyone raced the few feet to the bedroom where Alex was standing in a corner, looking at the ceiling. "Look." She pointed up. "Do you see it?"

Trivette spotted it first, a small hole, right in the corner. Smaller than a dime. "It's just a hole, Alex."

"It wasn't here when Angela moved in." she insisted.

"Normal wear and tear." Gage suggested.

Alex turned to her husband. "Just take a look." She pleaded.

Understanding her desperation, he retrieved the small stepladder from Angela's kitchen and climbed to the ceiling. He looked inside and his face changed. "Give me a hammer." He demanded. Sydney complied and he smashed the corner of the wall. Reaching his hand in, he took from inside the wall the small video camera that was concealed there.

Alex clamped her hands over her mouth, staring at it in horror. Walker set it down on top of the bookshelf and climbed off the ladder.

"Trivette, take a look at it." He directed.

Trivette obliged, but there were no wires to follow or buttons to press. "Looks like it's activated remotely. There's no DVD inside, so it must be set to stream somewhere else."

"Is it on now?" Walker asked.

"I don't think so, but there's no way to be sure." He responded.

"Can we figure out how long it's been there?" Sydney inquired.

"Not unless we can figure out where the video was streaming to. It's most likely set to go to a laptop." He grabbed the camera. "I've got some equipment at the office that could help. If it turns back on, I can try to piggyback the feed and follow it to the IP address being used. I can't do it from here though."

Walker sighed. "I guess there's not much else to do here. Let's head back. It's late though, everyone go home and get some sleep, I'll see you in the morning."

Everyone followed him out of the apartment; Alex locking the door behind them. Stoically, she allowed Walker to place his hand at the small of her back and steer toward the truck. She climbed in wordlessly and stared out the window for the duration of the ride.

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><p>Trivette, Sydney, and Gage piled into Gage's car, all lost in their own thoughts about the investigation. Trivette spoke up first. "Anyone up for a beer at CD's? I don't think I can sleep right now." Sydney readily accepted but Gage demurred.<p>

"I'm beat. I'm gonna grab some sleep so I can hit the ground running tomorrow."

He dropped them off at CD's since they both needed to get their cars anyway and watched them until they walked inside. He peeled away from the curb and floored it, sending his car propelling not toward his apartment, but in the opposite direction leaving Sydney and Trivette looking out the window of CD's with very confused looks on their faces.

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><p>"Oh good, you're awake." He said, squatting in front of her. As gently as possible, he peeled the tape off her mouth. She held in the whimper of pain that threatened to escape as it pulled away from her chapped and cracked lips. "Shh." He pressed a finger to her lips when she tried to talk.<p>

Angela fell silent, staring at the eyes through the mask her captor was wearing. She realized that they looked familiar.

"You were waiting for me, weren't you? That's why you were awake? You knew I was coming back for you." He said to her, stroking her cheek and her hair. Angela resisted the urge to shudder.

"I was afraid you weren't going to come back." She croaked, her voice hoarse from lack of use and water. It was true, but she knew their reasons were different. She cleared her throat. "What do you want from me?"

He regarded her for a long moment. She couldn't see his expression but his eyes looked thoughtful. "Good question." He finally said. "You'll find out soon enough." Silence fell again and Angela felt the need to break it.

"Look, if you let me go - " she started, but he cut her off.

"Let you go?" he laughed. "I'm not going to let you go."

Her breath caught in her chest. "Then please, kill me quickly. Starving to death is not how I envisioned leaving this world." She said with some façade of calm. Inside her chest, her heart was racing.

He laughed again. "Killing you would be a waste of such beauty." He cupped her cheek in his hand. "I'm waiting, Angel. Waiting for a time when you and I can be together forever."

"What good is that going to do us if you keep me tied up all the time?" she ventured.

"Well, as stunning as you look all tied up like that, it won't be forever. I just have to be sure that you're not going to leave me."

"You can let me go, I won't leave."

He laughed. "Words, Angela, words. Those are just words. This is going to be a long process, darling. I'm patient, and you have to be too. In time, you'll realize your true feelings for me and then…then we can leave this place and live together forever." He blinked, coming out of whatever fantasy was running through his head. "Now, is there anything I can get you?"

Her stomach growled, answering the question for her.

"Of course, you must be hungry. Forgive me for mistreating you but I had to break you down a little bit, make sure you couldn't run away on those gorgeous, shapely legs of yours." His hand traced the edge of the boy-shorts she'd been wearing when he'd taken her. She'd already wished several times since this all began that she had enough sense to sleep in something more than underwear and a camisole.

His hand traveled toward the inside of her thigh and she said quickly, "I won't run. I swear I won't. Please, I'm starving."

He looked into her eyes. "You have to give something to get something, Angel. Tit-for-tat. Or in your case," his eyes traveled south, "tit-for-tit." She could hear the smile in his voice as he said those last words. She closed her tear-filled eyes as his hands traveled under her camisole and made their way to her breasts. Because her eyes were closed, she was startled when she felt his lips press against hers and she opened her eyes, sure that he had removed his mask at last. Her heart fell when she saw that he had only rolled it up, freeing his mouth. Closing her eyes again, she let his tongue and his hands wander, helpless to do anything but sit there. When he was through, he adjusted her top for her and backed away. "Was that as good for you as it was for me?" She didn't respond. "It's okay, Angel, you just need practice. No worries. We'll have plenty of time for that." He reached for the role of duct tape he kept on a shelf above her head.

"Wait." She pleaded. "You said I could have something to eat."

"No!" he replied angrily, startling her. "I believe I said that you have to give something to get something. You gave me nothing just now, I had to take it." He leaned in close to her face. "I suggest you start thinking of ways to improve your technique." He tore off a wad of tape and slapped it on her mouth, causing her to cry out. Slamming the door behind him, he ripped off his mask. He hadn't wanted to get angry with her. He hadn't meant to. But sometimes his anger got the best of him and he had to let it out. It's her fault, he decided. If she'd reciprocated, even a little bit, this wouldn't have happened.

It wasn't just that, he knew. It was the stress of Walker being on his tail. Walker. Goddamn Walker. If anyone deserved to feel pain it was him. Seeing him strut around all these years, the big bad Texas Ranger drove him nuts. Watching Angela grow up living with him was even worse. He'd watched her almost from the time she was born, waiting for his chance to steal her away, to make her his. Because of Walker, that had never happened. And Alex. The lovely, successful wife. This really was all her fault. She was the reason this was happening.

While these thoughts were running through his head, a plan was forming. And as the plan took shape he began to calm down. This was the ultimate way to make the Walkers pay for what they'd done. And in the end, Angela would be his forever. No one would be able to stop him.


	6. Chapter 6

**I hope you all are loving this story as much as I loved writing it. Let me know what you think by leaving a review!**

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><p>Sydney wasn't surprised that Walker and Trivette were already in the office the next morning when she got there. Alex appeared to have moved her entire office to one of the conference tables in the middle of the room. No one gave her more than a nod in greeting, but she didn't take it personally. She settled in behind her desk and set the cup of coffee she'd brought for Gage on his desk. A stack of search warrants was on the table Alex was using.<p>

"Do we have any leads?" Sydney inclined her head toward the warrants.

"No." Alex said bitterly. "But Judge Warren basically gave me all the leniency I need. These are ready to go as soon as we get the addresses."

"Any luck with the camera?"

Trivette shook his head. "I can't trace it until it turns back on. I'm trying to see if I can figure out where it was sent originally but this looks like a pro job."

Sydney glanced at her watch. "Has anyone heard from Gage?"

Walker shook his head tersely and she sensed his annoyance.

Sydney pressed '2' on her phone, Gage's speed dial. The phone went straight to voicemail. Setting it aside she tried to place him out of her mind. But the sight of him speeding away the night before was burned in her mind. She dialed his number again. Still no answer.

She tried to focus on tracking down any lead she could find, but there weren't many and her mind kept flashing back to Gage's face. What if he'd been in an accident? She should have followed him last night, figured out where he was going. But she hadn't. And all she knew now was that his cell phone was off and he wasn't here.

As the hours passed and the sun really rose, Gage still didn't appear. Finally, when it was late enough to take a lunch break, Sydney stood. "I'm going to grab something to eat. You guys want anything?" There was general head shaking around the room, so she grabbed her jacket and headed for the door. She had her hand on the knob when Walker's phone started ringing.

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><p>Angela knew something was going to happen. She'd been woken up when her captor had been making breakfast; she'd smelled the frying bacon and her stomach growled uncomfortably. After that, there'd been a lot of stomping around and pacing; he was talking to himself but she couldn't make out many of the words. She'd focused on staying calm and quiet, hoping that he wouldn't turn his attention to her when he was in this frenzied state. She had an inkling that even if she wasn't restrained she wouldn't be much good against him now. He was physically strong, she knew, she'd felt his muscles while his body was pressed against hers the night before. More than that, he was fueled by determination and anger. Add to that the fact that she hadn't eaten in almost five days and that she had spent those days remaining completely stationary and she knew she didn't have a prayer.<p>

The door to her room was wrenched open and light flooded in. Squinting, she could make out the outline of the man in the doorway, still masked. He knelt in front of her, putting his hands on her legs.

"It's a big day for us, Angel. A huge day." His hands traveled up and once again she was helpless to do anything to stop him from exploring her body. Mercifully this session was much shorter than the one last night but she noted with dismay that he didn't bother to fix her top. One strap was hanging off her shoulder and the whole thing was rumpled, revealing a few inches of her waist on one side. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and kissed her forehead. "Don't worry, you don't have to do anything except sit there, looking exactly as you do right now. Are you ready?"

He backed out of the room and shut the door, leaving her thoroughly confused and more frightened than ever. She heard him speaking in a low voice, then heavy footsteps as he walked toward her room. When he opened the door, he stepped back and for a moment she thought there was someone with him. There didn't appear to be, however, as he came back in and knelt in front of her. He reached for her head and she instinctively jerked away from his hand.

"Don't do that!" he ordered angrily. He once again peeled the tape off of her mouth and she braced herself for what would come next. Instead, he surprised her, holding out a cell phone.

"Someone wants to talk to you."

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><p>Sydney paused at the door on the off chance that the caller was Gage. Walker glanced at his phone and his expression changed from one of annoyance to one Sydney couldn't figure out. He'd never looked like that before and Sydney suddenly realized that this was what Walker looked like when he was panicked.<p>

"It's a blocked number." He announced over the ringing of a phone. "Trivette, try to trace it. I'll put it on speaker." Trivette shushed the office and silence fell as he, Alex, and Sydney crowded around Walker's desk.

Walker answered the call. "Hello? Who is this?" he demanded.

The voice that came through the phone startled them all, it was low and robotic. "Now, now, I won't have that tone, Ranger Walker. Why don't you try that again? Now!"

"Hello, this is Ranger Walker, can I help you?" Walker intoned, giving in to the demand. He couldn't risk anything right now.

"Actually, it's I that can help you. You see, I have something of yours. I'm going to tell you how to get her back."

"If you touch her, I swear to God -"

He was cut off. "I would choose your words carefully, Ranger." The voice warned. It was cold and hard, made even creepier by the distortion.

"What do you want?"

"That's better. First, can I assume that you are in your office?"

"Yes."

"Clear it out. This needs to be just you and me. No one else. Do it now, and tell me when you're done. Rest assured that I will find out if you don't do this."

Walker stood. "Everyone, I need you to clear this room, everyone out!" The Rangers headed for the doors, but Walker indicated that Trivette, Sydney, and Alex should stay. When the last person had left the room, Walker spoke into the phone. "It's done, everyone's gone."

"Are you completely sure about that?"

Walker met Trivette's eyes. "Yes, I'm sure."

"Good. Now -"

"Hang on."

"I don't like to be interrupted, Ranger. Don't do it again."

"I want to talk to my daughter."

"I don't think you understand. I'm calling the shots here and you would do well to remember that!" the voice yelled. "Now, am I correct in assuming that you are near a computer?"

"Yes."

"Then I suggest you check your email." Walker quickly accessed it, clicking on the message that had just appeared. It contained no wording, just a link. Walker clicked it and a new screen popped up. In it was what appeared to be a picture of a blank wall. He realized it was a video when a well-built, masked man walked into the frame and pulled the wall back; Walker realized that it was actually a well-disguised door. He fought to keep his heartbeat steady as the door opened and the man stepped back, leaving a free view of Angela.

Alex gasped and clamped her hands over her mouth, remembering that Walker was supposed to be alone. Walker shot her a quick look before turning his attention back to his daughter. His first impression was that Angela looked terrible. There were dark circles under her eyes and she was emaciated. Walker noted that she was bound to the chair at her wrists and ankles, and all four were bloody and bruised. With disgust, he noticed the restraint around her neck and forced himself to look at her face. He could imagine the terror she was feeling, he pictured her struggling to break free from her bonds, growing more and more desperate when she couldn't. Her top was askew, one strap falling down on her shoulder and the bottom bunched up, revealing more skin than he would have liked. He prayed that her top had stayed on for the duration of her captivity. Behind him, silent tears were streaming down Alex's face and she was doing her best to stay quiet. Trivette shook his head, whether out of anger or something else Walker couldn't tell. Sydney was gripping Alex's hand, doing her best to keep her quiet and calm.

"How do I know this isn't old footage?" he finally asked. "I want to know that she's still alive."

"You're testing me, Ranger. I don't like to be told what to do."

"I'm not going to give you anything you want until you let me talk to my daughter."

The man sighed and bent down in front down in front of Angela.

Walker watched as she jerked away from the man's hand when he reached for her face and his heart broke. It was all he could to do keep his voice even when Angela spoke into the phone.

"Hello?" her voice was hoarse and weak. Her eyes were on the man in front of her and Walker had the sense that she didn't know she was on camera.

"Angel, are you okay?" Walker asked softly.

Her eyes welled up on screen and his heart broke even more. "Daddy?" she sobbed. "Daddy, I'm so sorry."

"Shh, baby, you don't have anything to be sorry for. You're going to be fine, do you hear me? Just stay calm."

"Okay." She whispered.

"How's your head?"

She composed herself before answering. "It's fine."

"It doesn't look fine." Walker responded.

"What? How do you know…?" her eyes traveled to the laptop. "Can you see me right now?"

"Yeah, baby, I see you. I see you, and I'm going to find you, just hang in there, Angel."

Angela's voice wavered when she answered, her eyes traveling from the laptop back to her captor. "Daddy, don't watch this." Her voice broke. "Please don't watch. Turn it off, don't watch this." She pleaded, even as the masked man placed the phone back to his own ear.

"Au contraire, Cowboy, I suggest you watch this very closely." He set the phone on the floor and moved toward Angela, tipping her face up to meet his. He kissed her hard, grabbing fistfuls of her hair and preventing her from turning her face away. He nuzzled her neck and Walker could see Angela's face clearly, see the shame and fear she felt. Apparently, Alex had had enough.

"You son of a bitch! Get your hands off of her!" she screamed.

Sydney clamped her hand over Alex's mouth, a panicked look on her face. The man paused on the screen, pulling away from Angela and picking up the phone again.

"Ranger Walker, unless your voice has suddenly turned in to that of a woman, I have no choice but to believe that there is someone else in the room with you."

Walker tried to figure out how to word his response, but the man spoke again. "Are you, or are you not, alone, Ranger? I'm waiting for your answer!"

"No, I'm not alone." He said softly.

The man on screen stared into the camera. "Didn't I tell you that I would find out if you were lying? I told you that, didn't I? And you still try! Don't you know that you can't fool me? I know how you work, how you operate. Who else is in the room with you? Answer me now. No, you know what? Rotate your laptop so that I can see the rest of the office. Or you can make it easy on yourself by having whoever else is there step into the frame." He walked away from Angela and out of sight, most likely changing his position so he could see the video on his own computer. Angela's eyes followed him as he moved, her eyes filled with anxiety.

"I said, step into the frame." He commanded. Alex maneuvered so that she was directly behind Walker.

"Ah, the lovely Alexandra. Am I to take it that it was you who so unkindly yelled at me?"

She nodded, not trusting herself to say anything.

"I see where Angela gets her beauty. You're almost as extraordinary as she is. Now, who else is there?"

With little choice and great reluctance, Sydney and Trivette moved to stand beside Walker and Alex.

"I should have known. Ranger Trivette, the loyal partner, always around, always basking in the glory of legendary Texas Ranger Cordell Walker. And the ever lovely Ranger Cooke. It's a shame that I'm so partial to blondes. Now, Ranger Walker," he said conversationally, "I thought you said you were alone? You lied to me." The disembodied voice spoke calmly, and it was more frightening than when he'd been yelling.

"What does that have to do with anything? This was my fault, not Angela's!" Walker pointed out.

"Yes but, unfortunately for her, you're not here, and she is. And maybe this will get my point across."

He strode back across the frame until he was standing directly in front of Angela. "I'm truly sorry about this, Angel, but your _daddy_ has left me no choice." Before she could even process what he'd said, he drew his fist back and punched her. Blinding pain encompassed her face; her cheekbone felt like it was on fire. The restraint around her neck rubbed against the already raw skin there and she gagged and coughed from the sudden pressure against her neck. She was still reeling from the first punch when he hit her again. And again. And again. She lost count of the punches and fought to stay conscious. She felt blood streaming down her face and spat some out of her mouth. A few of her teeth felt loose and she could barely see out of her left eye, it was nearly swollen shut. The pain was so overbearing that she couldn't even bring herself to cry, it was taking everything she had to stay anywhere near conscious.

When he was finished, the man gripped her chin and tilted her head to the side, aiming a clear shot of her damaged face to the camera. He released her and her head lolled to the side. Moving back behind his computer, he picked up the phone. "Do you understand now that I'm not messing around?" he demanded.

Walker ignored him. "Angela? Angela, answer me." He yelled.

The man laughed. "She can't hear you. It's called a mute button. I'm waiting for your answer. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, I understand."

"Good. Now, if you want to get your daughter back, there's a very simple solution. I want to propose a simple exchange."

"How much do you want?" Walker asked.

He laughed again. "I don't want your money. I have money. I want something much more valuable. You can have your daughter back if you give me your wife. An even trade, one for the other."


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi guys! Thanks you all who have loyally been reviewing each chapter; I love having your feedback. Also, thanks to everyone else who is reading. If you have the time, leave a review, it really helps me understand what you guys are thinking. Anyway, enjoy this chapter!**

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><p>"Did you hear me, Walker? I want an even trade. Well, not exactly even, since you're getting more than your giving. That's what it's all about really, isn't it? Give and take? So what do you say? Give me your wife, and I'll give you your daughte<p>

"Like hell I will." Walker spat at the same time Alex said, "When and where?" They stared at each other and a robotic chuckle came through the phone. On screen, Angela, though barely conscious, had obviously heard what had been said and was shaking her head slowly, her eyes pleading. She'd never forgive herself if her mom got hurt during this mess.

"Tell you what, you guys talk it over and when you decide to come, Alexandra, call me at this number. I suggest you write it down. And don't bother tracing it, it's a burn phone. Just thought I'd save you the trouble. Are you ready? Its 555-3101, did you get that? Call me on that number and I'll tell you where to go. You must go alone, let's be very clear on that. If someone is with you, or if you try to trap me, Angela will suffer."

"When do you need to know?" Alex asked.

"No deadline. Whenever you're ready, you just call me. But in the meantime, know that your Angel is here, with me, all alone." He swaggered back into the frame and kissed her one more time for good measure, before ripping off another strip of tape that he slapped on her mouth. He slammed the door closed and locked it with the padlock he'd been using. "You take all the time you need. I'm sure I can find a way to enjoy myself." He taunted before disconnecting the call and the video feed.

Walker pounded his fist on the desk and put his face in his hands. Alex walked away from the desk to regain her composure, leaving Trivette and Sydney to have a silent conversation with their eyes.

"Did you get a trace on the phone?" Walker asked in a strained voice.

Trivette shook his head. "It's a disposable cell, untraceable. I couldn't get a lock on it."

"Of course it is. Nothing's ever easy." Walker muttered. "Where the hell is Gage?" he needed to focus his anger on something and since the younger Ranger was absent, he was a decent target. "Damn it!" he pounded his fist again and turned his gaze to Alex.

She was standing by the window, staring outside as if it would hold all the answers. She couldn't believe she'd yelled during that call. She couldn't get the image of Angela being hit over and over out of his head. She sensed Walker step up behind her and folded her arms across her chest. It was so hard right now; she needed him but she was so angry with him. More than anything, she wanted him to hold her and tell her that everything would be fine. But she couldn't go to him. She couldn't bring herself to do it and the worst part was that she didn't understand why. Rationally, she knew this wasn't Walker's fault. There was only one man to blame for this and it wasn't him. But the other part of her, the mama bear that erupted anytime Angela was in harm's way blamed him for what was going on. If they'd driven down to check on her earlier, they could have found her by now. If he'd made everyone leave the room just now, Angela wouldn't have been beaten. It was so easy to blame everything on Walker. And if, God forbid, Angela didn't come home in one piece, Alex knew she'd never forgive him.

She knew that Walker was behind her, waiting to talk to her, and was grateful the he didn't touch her. She didn't want to be comforted right now, she was done with that. She wanted, she needed, to take action, to get her daughter back. Defiantly, she rounded on Walker.

"I'm going. I'm going right now." She stated bluntly.

Walker shook his head. "No, you're not."

Alex was furious. Days of worry and anger had built up inside and it was finally coming out. "Damn it, Walker, yes I am. You don't seem to be able to do anything except make our daughter's situation worse. I'm taking over from here. You just go back to not giving a damn!"

"You think I don't give a damn?" Walker yelled, fighting to keep his anger under control. "Alex, how can you say that? I am thinking of what's best for our daughter and best for you. If you think that this animal is going to let Angela go just because you gave yourself to him, you're in for a rude awakening. He's not going to let her go! He wants both of you, why can't you see that?"

"How do you know that's what he wants? You can't know that." Alex insisted.

"Alex, I see things like this happen all the time. You're the ransom. Angela is the victim. The kidnapper keeps the ransom and gets rid of the girl. You know that. You know you can't do this." Walker told her softly.

"And you can't stop me!" Alex said, pushing past him. Walker reached out and grabbed her arm, pushing Alex over the edge. Before she knew what she was doing, she reached out and punched him as hard as she could. Walker's head snapped to the side and his eyes widened in surprise. Alex stood still, glaring with all her might, challenging him to stop her again. He stared back, unable to think of any words that would come close to comforting her.

"Alex, you're not going. I know you want to help Angela. This isn't the way to do it."

Her eyes welled up. "Walker, I have to do something. I can't…I can't just sit here knowing that she is with that animal." She stabbed her finger toward the laptop. "We can't let him hurt her." This time, she let him gather her into his arms and hold her close. She let loose with all the emotions she'd been holding in. Deep sobs racked her body and she sagged in Walker's arms. He held her up, just as he always had, and she knew that he would forgive her for what she needed to do. She just hoped that she would be around long enough to be forgiven.

* * *

><p>Angela was passing in and out of consciousness, she knew. She'd close her eyes to blink and wake up feeling like she'd been asleep for hours. Tacky, half-dried blood covered the left side of her face and her left eye was so swollen that she couldn't see. Her mouth was bleeding and she had no choice but to swallow the blood as it flowed, the tape preventing her from spitting it out. She felt nauseous and prayed that she wouldn't vomit and suffocate. Moving her head even the slightest bit sent waves of pain through it, so she let it loll to one side, careful to angle her neck in such a way that the plastic tie wasn't cutting off her air.<p>

She was so ashamed of what had just happened. It was bad enough being held captive and tortured by this madman, but for her father to have to watch her being molested was even worse. How would he ever look at her the same way again, knowing what had happened? She knew he'd say it didn't matter, but those were only words. It _did _make her feel better knowing that he was looking for her. All her life, her dad had never let her down before. She only hoped that her mom wouldn't try to trade herself in. Deep down, Angela knew that there was no way her captor was going to let her go voluntarily.

Her last thought before she lost consciousness again was that she hadn't heard him come back after he'd left. Right after he disconnected the video she heard him saying that he had to go because he was late for work, and that he would see her again tonight.

* * *

><p>Sydney and Trivette were working to set up a safe house. Now that they knew that Alex was the man's other intended victim, there was no time to lose. In fact, everyone would be moving in temporarily for added protection: Walker, Alex, Sydney, Trivette, and Gage, if he ever decided to come back. Alex had agreed to the safe house complacently, and said she was going to retrieve some files from her office to take with her. She kissed Walker on the cheek and calmly left the room, leaving Walker staring after her. He'd quickly made himself busy, bringing other Rangers up to date and making sure all of his other duties were covered. Right as they were getting ready to leave, Gage ran into the office.<p>

"I'm so sorry guys, I overslept this morning, and-"

"You overslept?" Walker roared. "While we've been busy trying to find my daughter, you were sleeping? While we were forced to watch her suffer at the hands of a monster, you were sleeping? You're damn lucky I don't demand your resignation right now." Walker was in Gage's face and the younger Ranger was taken aback.

"Walker, I'm sorry. I don't have any excuses-"

"Good, because I don't want any. Go get Alex and tell her we're leaving for the safe house. You're coming too, by the way, provided you still want to be a part of this team." Walker turned his back on him and stormed away.

Gage looked at Sydney for help. "What's going on?" he asked in a low voice.

"Walker got a call from the kidnapper. He put up a video of Angela, she doesn't look good. He…touched her and taunted Walker about it. Then he beat her." Sydney responded, giving her partner the short version of the events. She took in his disheveled appearance, his general air of being flustered. Gage had never looked like this before. That's when she noticed his right hand; the knuckles were shiny and red, one of them had recently stopped bleeding. It looked like Gage had punched someone hard, repeatedly.

"Gage, what -?" Sydney began.

"Go get Alex, Gage!" Walker demanded. "We're leaving!"

Gage ran out of the room, grateful for the reprieve from his partner's questions. He was sure that no one in that room wanted to hear what he'd been doing this morning.


	8. Chapter 8

**So, a number of people have asked me if Gage is the evil one here...my answer is that I'm not going to say anything but that all will be resolved soon. Enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think!**

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><p>Gage knocked on the door to Alex's office. There was no answer.<p>

"Alex?" he called, knocking again. When there was no answer Gage knocked again, harder this time. Still not getting an answer he tried the door knob. He drew his gun and kicked in the door, clearing the small office in a matter of seconds. Alex wasn't there. He marched out of the office and got in the secretary's face, demanding to know if she'd seen Alex that day. The secretary shook her head and Gage's heart sank. Alex had never made it back to her office.

He ran back to the office and burst through the door. "Alex is gone." He reported. "Her office was locked up tight and her secretary said she hasn't seen her all afternoon."

"Do you think she went?" Trivette asked Walker.

"Of course she did. I should have gone with her back to her office." Walker said, disgusted with himself.

"What am I missing?" Gage asked Sydney.

"The kidnapper wants Alex to trade herself for Angela. She's supposed to go alone and call when she's on her way." Sydney muttered.

"Which you would know if you had been here this morning!" Walker told him coldly, with a trace of suspicion. "Put out an APB on her car. That is, unless you have somewhere else you need to be."

"I'm on it." Gage said.

"Sydney, Trivette, you guys go get the safe house ready. I'll meet you there as soon as I find Alex." He said, as Gage hung up the phone. "Plan on staying there for awhile. I'm not taking any chances with any of you. Sydney, Trivette, he knows who you are." Walker said, as they tried to object. "I'm not taking a chance with anyone. And I want you there to protect Alex."

"What about me?" Gage asked.

Walker regarded him through glaring eyes. He seemed to be battling himself and chose his words carefully. "You go too. I want you there." Walker decided. 

Both knew there was no arguing, especially when Walker threw out the protection card. They nodded, mentioned going home to grab some clothes, and said they would see Walker later. Sydney grabbed Gage by the shirt collar and dragged him out of the room.

Trivette followed them out, making a beeline for the elevator. The ride down to the garage was tense. Trivette glanced at Gage out of the corner of his eye, then met Sydney's gaze. She nodded as the elevator reached their stop. Gage got out first and started to walk to his car. Sydney grabbed his arm and spun him around, shoving his back against the wall.

"What the hell, Shorty?" he spluttered.

"Gage, where were you this morning?" she demanded.

"I told you, I overslept." Gage said.

"That's bull, man. And you know it." Trivette said.

"What happened to your hand?" Sydney asked.

Gage made a fist. "I tripped this morning while I was running around, banged it on the wall. What's with the third degree?" His face suddenly showed comprehension, then anger and hurt. "You guys don't honestly think that I had something to do with Angela's disappearance, do you?"

Sydney and Trivette shared a look. "Look, Gage, you're not giving us a straight answer. Where did you go last night after you dropped us off at CD's?" Sydney asked.

"Home."

"Damn it, Gage, no you didn't! You drove in the opposite direction of your apartment. I watched you drive away!" Sydney yelled.

"So what? I drove around for awhile, then I went home."

"I tried calling you."

"My phone is dead." He held it out. "See? Syd, I'm telling you the truth. I love Angela, I wouldn't ever do anything to hurt her, or Alex, or Walker for that matter." he insisted.

Sydney sighed, staring into his blue eyes. "Gage, just tell us what happened."

"Shorty, I don't believe this." he looked at Trivette. "You too? You really think that I had something to do with this?"

Trivette shook his head. "I don't know what to think."

"Tell me this then, why would Walker want me at the safe house if he doesn't trust me?" Gage asked.

"So I can keep an eye on you." Walker spoke from behind him, having just exited the elevator. He grabbed Gage's collar and shoved him up against the wall. "I don't know what game you're playing, but I swear to God that if you had anything to do with this I will kill you."

"Walker, I would never do anything to hurt Angela." Gage told him softly.

Walker released him, breathing angrily. The rational part of him was saying _This is Gage. You trust him with your life. _But the father part of him was arguing, saying _He won't give you a straight answer. He's had the opportunity, he's watched Angela grow up for her whole life._ Walker didn't know what to think. There was a long silence before Sydney spoke again.

"Well, right now we need to get to the safe house." Sydney said, trying to diffuse the tension. "See you there." She, Trivette, and Walker went to their respective cars, leaving Gage standing where he was, trying to figure out what to do to fix all this.

* * *

><p>Alex was behind the wheel of her car, trying to work up enough courage to dial the number the kidnapper had given her. She'd gone over what seemed like every possible scenario in her head: rape, torture, murder. She convinced herself that by turning herself over, Angela would be free to go home. But Walker's voice kept popping into her head and deep down she knew he was right; the chances were slim that he would let Angela go. But still, she felt she had to try. Just as her finger was pressing down on the little green button, she noticed flashing lights behind her car.<p>

She glanced at the speedometer; she was going way over the limit. Pulling over, she cursed her own foolishness, thinking that every minute she was delayed was another minute that Angela had to suffer. She removed her license and handed it to the officer that appeared outside her window.

"Sorry about that, Officer. I'm in a bit of a hurry. I'd be happy to take whatever ticket you feel necessary." She was relieved to see that it was an officer she knew.

"Alexandra Cahill-Walker?" he asked in an official tone.

"Yes. As I said Andrew, I'm in a hurry." She said testily.

"Ma'am, I'm going to need you to step out of the car."

"Andrew, come on, I really have somewhere I need to be."

"Ma'am, step out of the car, now." He commanded.

Sighing, Alex complied and exited the car. "Turn around please." He said. "Put your hands behind your back."

"What is the meaning of this?" she demanded.

"Alex, I'm sorry. You're under arrest. The warrant went out twenty minutes ago."

"Under arrest for what? This is ridiculous."

"You're under arrest for obstructing a police investigation. If you'll come with me, I have orders to take you to a safe house for your own protection. From this point on, you're under house arrest."

"You can't do this!" Alex yelled, even as the officer spun her around and fastened her hands loosely behind her back. "I have to help my daughter. I have to save her."

"Alex, I'm sorry. Get in the car." The officer said.

Knowing she had no choice, she settled into the back seat of the car and leaned her head against the window.

"Damn you, Walker. I'll never forgive you for this." She whispered.

* * *

><p>When Walker saw the squad car pull up in front of the safe house, he didn't feel as though words could describe the level of relief he felt. Alex was out of the car and in the house before he could move away from the window, the officer having quickly removed her cuffs.<p>

"You had me arrested?" Alex demanded.

"I'll have the charges dropped." Walker told her. "I just needed to get you here as quickly as possible."

"Well, I'm here." Alex said. "But you can't keep me here. You can't, Walker."

"You're right, I can't." he admitted. "But before you say anything else, listen to me, alright? Hear me out."

Alex sat down in one of the plush arm chairs in the room, folding her arms and crossing her legs defensively. Walker sat down across from her and leaned forward.

"What did you think was going to happen when you met this man, Alex?"

"I don't know." She answered. "But you seem to have all the answers right now, so why don't you tell me?"

"I don't know what would have happened. No one can know that. But I can promise you that it wouldn't have been good. Maybe he would have let Angela go. Let's say he did. Then he would have you and God only knows what would have happened. You saw what he did to Angela."

"Yes, I saw. We all saw that. And I would gladly take that if it meant that Angela didn't have to go through it. I would die for her." Alex said steadily.

"I know you would." Walker agreed. "But do you see the problem? If you had turned yourself over to him, he would eventually kill you. And," Walker swallowed. "I wouldn't be able to handle that. Worst case scenario, he kept both of you. What would have happened then? Alex, he would have made you watch while he tortured and raped our daughter. And then he would have done the same to you. Then what? Now Anglea and you are both in danger. Do you see the problem here?"

Alex shook her head. "I know what you're saying is true." She whispered. "But do you understand that I can't just wait for something else to happen?"

He reached out and grasped her hand. "Alex, you have to trust me. I will get her back. I promise you. And I will keep you safe."

"I'm so scared, Walker. I'm scared for our little girl." She admitted. "What if you don't get her back? What if you do and the damage is already done? She'll never be the same. This will make her paranoid; she's going to be looking over her shoulder all the time." Alex said, crying now. "I know how she's going to feel, Walker, I've lived it!"

"Then we'll help her get past it. If she's anywhere near as strong as you are, she's going to be fine." Walker soothed.

"She is strong, isn't she?" Alex sniffed, smiling a little.

"So strong. Just like you. Be strong for her, Alex, and trust me."

Alex nodded. "I do."

* * *

><p>Two days passed with no new information. The Rangers chased down every lead, but there weren't many. They racked their brains trying to figure out someone who would target Angela <em>and<em> Alex. They traveled back and forth to Angela's campus, talking to her neighbors, her professors, her teammates, but no one could give them any new information or insight. Walker's and Alex's nerves were fraying fast, though Alex had stayed true to her word and not left the safe house. Walker had refused to let Gage leave the house alone and paired himself up with the young Ranger everywhere they went. Still, everyone inside was going stir crazy and Walker knew that something needed to happen soon. Then, the morning of the third day at the safe house, something did happen.

* * *

><p>Angela was getting weaker by the hour, she could feel it. Two days had passed since the conversation with her father and there'd been no hint of rescue on any front. Her captor taunted her every night. The first night, he'd sat down in front of her and told her, in detail, what he was planning on doing to her and her mom once she showed up. It was disgusting. He'd laughed in her face before slamming the door shut again, humming to himself. He left her alone for most of the next day, but when he came back that night he was obviously perturbed. He removed the tape and Angela licked her lips. They were chapped and cracked from being covered by the tape for seven days. He offered her a cup of water and she drank it greedily. In her mind, she'd been repeating something her dad had always told her when they were camping. "Angel, if you ever get nervous, just think about this. You can go three minutes without air, three days without water, and three weeks without food. As long as you have air and water, you're fine."<p>

Angela had been repeating that in her mind over and over, but it did nothing to calm the pains in her stomach. She started coughing from the quick intake of water and the cup was removed. "Don't drink it too fast, the last thing we need is you choking to death." He told her coldly, as if it were her fault that she was thirsty.

"Still no word from your mother." He told her. "It seems she doesn't love you as much as she should."

"No, she's just not going to give in to you." Angela told him, resenting the fact that her voice was so weak.

He chuckled. "Well, if she's not going to come to me, I'll have to go get her. Desperate times call for desperate measures. It'll make things harder for me, but I think I can do it. One kiss for good luck." He leaned in and pressed his mouth to hers, ripping off a new piece of tape in the process. He pressed it to her mouth and smoothed it out. "Not to worry, we'll be back together soon enough." He backed away and shut the door again. She heard the sound of his car start up and drive away and then she was all alone once again.

* * *

><p>"Walker!" Alex called. "Come quick!"<p>

Walker ran to his and Alex's bedroom in the safe house. "What's wrong?"

Her yell had drawn everyone in the house and the room suddenly became crowded.

She looked apprehensive. "I just got a phone call!"

"From who?" Walker asked slowly.

"Angela's cell phone! She just called me, then hung up!"

"Did she say anything?"

Alex shook her head. The call only lasted a minute, but Walker, her phone was on. Trace the GPS!"

Trivette took the phone from Alex and led the sprint into the makeshift office area of the house. He hooked the phone up to his computer and his hands flew across the keyboard.

Less than a minute later he had it. "I found it. In the middle of nowhere." He looked at Walker. "Do you think he's messing with us?"

"It could be a trap." Gage posited.

"Walker, we have to try to find her. We need to go." Alex told him.

"Sydney and I will go. Trivette and Gage, you stay here with Alex."

"I'm not staying here! I'm going with you!" Alex insisted.

Walker shook his head. "We can't take that chance. You stay here with Trivette and Gage. I promise that I will call you if we find anything."

"You mean, you'll call when you find her." Alex instructed.

Walker nodded. "That's what I meant."

Walker and Sydney ran to his truck and clambered inside, peeling out of the driveway without another word.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hi guys! Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing; I love getting your feedback! I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

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><p>"We're almost there." Sydney reported, glancing up from her phone. She looked at Walker, who was gripping the wheel so hard his knuckles were white. "Walker, are you okay?"<p>

"Fine." He answered tersely, and stomped on the brake pedal as a light at a major intersection switched to red; there was no way to get through without crashing into someone. The truck lurched to a stop and Walker banged his fist on the dashboard.

"Come on!" he yelled.

"Walker, you need to keep your head right now." Sydney told him softly. "If you barge in there without a plan Angela could end up getting hurt."

"I have a plan. My plan is to beat the son of a bitch until he stops moving. Then I'm going to shoot him." Walker glared at the light, willing it to change.

Sydney chose her next words carefully. "Walker, you need to be prepared for whatever we find in there."

Walker turned his head so sharply it was a blur. "What are you saying?" he asked, even though he knew the answer.

"We don't know what's happened the last two days." Sydney said slowly. "Walker, there's a chance that Angela might be dead."

He shook his head. "I would know if that had happened. I would know." He pressed the gas pedal to the floor as soon as there was a break in traffic and the truck took off.

* * *

><p>Alex was pacing around the living room incessantly, her arms folded tight against her chest. "What's taking so long? Why haven't we heard anything yet?"<p>

"Alex, they left twenty minutes ago. They're not even there yet." Trivette answered calmly. He and Gage had made the wise decision to keep their distance for now, Gage especially; they knew how hard Alex could hit when she was frustrated.

"Why didn't all of you go?" she asked the question that had been burning in the back of her mind ever since Walker and Sydney left. "We know this animal is dangerous, why didn't everyone go? Does Walker really want to keep me here that badly?"

Trivette steadfastly ignored Gage. "Alex, it doesn't have anything to do with keeping you here. Well, it does and it doesn't. Someone needs to stay here with you." Trivette explained. "For your protection."

"Okay, I get that." She nodded. "But wouldn't three Rangers have a better chance than two?" she spoke only to Trivette and with a sinking feeling, Gage realized Alex was just as suspicious of him as everyone else.

Trivette hesitated. "Alex, Walker wants Sydney there for Angela's sake. After going through something like this, she's going to need a female presence. And I'm guessing Walker didn't want to risk overloading her with too much testosterone right off the bat." He explained gently, carefully watching Alex's face.

She shook her head and turned away to face the window again. "She doesn't deserve this. I'm not saying anyone _does_ deserve this, but she doesn't." she turned back to face Trivette. "She's going to be okay, right? Tell me she'll be okay." She begged.

Trivette covered the distance between them in a matter of seconds and wrapped Alex in a bear hug. His cell phone rang after a minute and he glanced at the caller ID. "It's Walker." He reported, flipping it open.

* * *

><p>"You're sure this is it?" Walker asked Sydney.<p>

"This is the address Trivette gave us."

"There's nothing here." Walker said, frustration evident in his voice. They were at the end of a back road that had taken them on a journey through dense woods. They were staring into the forest but all they could see was shrubbery.

"Let's look around." Sydney suggested.

She and Walker exited the car and drew their weapons, plowing forward through the trees. They'd gone less than a mile before they spotted it: a large RV sitting in a clearing.

They ran forward and huddled on either side of the door. Walker raised three fingers, lowering them one by one. He tested the doorknob and it was unlocked. That meant that it was likely that their kidnapper was home. Or at least not far away.

They entered the RV quietly and quickly cleared it. There was no sign of Angela or anyone else. Walker's eyes fell on the far wall where there appeared to be a small closet. There was a padlock on the door. He looked at Sydney and nodded; she moved toward the front door to keep a lookout. Walker called Angela's name as he moved toward the door.

"Angel, can you hear me?" There was no response. He reached up and hit the lock with the butt of his gun a few times until it fell apart. Holstering his gun, he pried the door open and it felt like his heart stopped.

"Sydney, I found her!" he yelled. Angela was in the closet, still tied to the same chair. Blood caked the side of her face and she appeared to be unconscious.

"Angel, wake up." No movement. "With a trembling hand, he pressed two fingers to her neck and was relieved when he felt a pulse there. He knelt down and lifted Angela's head, pulling the tape off her mouth. Her eyes fluttered open.

"Angela? Baby, it's okay. You're safe now." He said softly.

"Daddy?" she whispered, struggling to focus her good eye on him.

"Yeah baby, it's me. You're okay."

"Get me out of here, please. Get them off." She strained against her restraints weakly.

"Okay, alright. Just stay still for me." He pulled a knife from his pocked and severed the strap around her neck first. She leaned her head back.

"Daddy, I'm so sorry." She whispered, crying now out of a mixture of relief, pain, and shame. "So sorry." She whispered again, her voice fading. Her head lolled forward and Walker hurried to cut the ties on her wrists and ankles.

"Okay, Angel, come here. We're getting you out." He placed one hand behind her back and the other behind her knees, scooping her into his arms. He carried her out of the RV and stopped at the treeline. Sydney caught up to him quickly.

"No sign of him." She reported. "Is she okay?" she asked quietly.

"I don't know. We need to get her to a hospital." Walker said.

"Can you carry her back to the truck?"

"Of course I can." Walker said. "Call a tech team. We need this place swept for evidence." No sooner were the words out of his mouth that the RV exploded, waves of heat rolling over them. Walker and Sydney fell to the ground, both draping themselves over Angela's body protectively. When the ringing in their ears subsided they sat up, taking in the charred wreckage that had been their only link to the kidnapper.

"That was close." Sydney said, panting.

"Too close." Walker agreed. "Get the techs out here anyway. We need to get going. Keep the plants out of the way." He requested, picking Angela up once again.

Sydney obliged, walking in front of Walker and Angela until the truck was in view again. Sydney pulled one of Walker's old sweatshirts off the seat and draped it across Angela's nearly-bare body. Walker set Angela in the middle seat and Sydney climbed in beside her, putting an arm around her. Angela's head came to rest on Sydney's shoulder and Sydney felt Angela's hand searching for her own. Knowing this contact was crucial right now; Sydney took Angela's hand in her own, squeezing it gently and holding during the drive to the hospital.

Though it broke Walker's heart, he hung back and let Sydney accompany Angela into the examination room. He pulled out his phone and called Trivette.

"Did you find her?" Trivette's voice said through the phone.

"We found her." He heard Trivette relay this information to Alex over the phone and suggested that he turn on the speakerphone. Trivette obliged and Walker heard Alex's voice.

"Walker? Is she alright?"

"We found her. I don't know any more than that right now. She's being examined and they're running some tests. Sydney's with her." Walker took a breath. "We didn't get him though. He's still on the loose. He'll be doing everything he can to find her, and maybe Alex. Keep your eyes open." Seeing a doctor walking his way, he quickly told Alex that he would call her back and hung up the phone.

"Ranger Walker?" the doctor inquired.

"Yes. How's my daughter?"

The doctor smiled gently. "She's going to be fine. There'll be no long term damage."

"That doesn't tell me much."

"The most serious injury is to her face. The left side of her face was savagely beaten; she's got a number of small lacerations and even more bruises. Her cheekbone is fractured, but that will heal itself in a matter of weeks. We've bandaged her wrists and ankles to prevent any infections, but there may be some scarring. She's been drifting in and out of consciousness, but she managed to tell us that she hasn't eaten since before she was taken, which was some time ago, correct?" the doctor glanced at his notes.

"Seven days ago." Walker answered. "She hasn't eaten anything?"

"That's what she said. It also explains her disorientation and loss of consciousness. We've got her hooked up to an IV right now, so that's giving her nutrients. It's already made a noticeable difference. We've cleaned and bandaged the wounds on her face."

"What about sexual assault?"

"We ran an SAE kit and the tests all came back negative. There's no evidence of sexual assault whatsoever."

Walker sighed softly. "When will she be discharged? Her protection is of the utmost concern right now."

"Well, I could keep her here for observation, but as long as she won't be alone tonight, there's no reason she can't get out of here soon. I want to keep her here for a few more hours, just to make sure nothing else will happen and to keep her on the IV. If you're going to take her home, you need to keep an eye on her for the next few hours and bring her back immediately if she starts feeling dizzy or nauseous."

Walker nodded his understanding and shook his hand. "Thank you, Doctor."

"She's in room 149." The doctor reported before walking away. Walker found the room quickly and paused in the doorway. Angela was propped up against a few pillows, multiple IV lines going out of her right arm. Her wrists were bandaged, but the irritation on her neck wasn't as severe, so the doctors hadn't bothered. The blood had been cleaned off her face, but that only made it easier to see the extensive bruising that covered the left half of it. Her eyes were closed, but when Walker sat beside her and took hold of her hand she stirred.

"Shh, go back to sleep. You're okay."

"Daddy?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, it's me. You're okay."

"Did you find him?"

It broke his heart to have to shake his head. "No, honey, we didn't find him. But we will." He promised.

"I know you will. I knew you would find me, and you did. I know you'll find him."

Talking seemed to take most of her energy and she fell back to sleep. Walker could feel Sydney's eyes on him from across the bed, but he kept his on his daughter's face, even as a tear escaped from his eye and rolled down his cheek.

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><p>Trivette hung up the phone a few hours later and turned to face Alex.<p>

"They're bringing her home. They'll be here in about a half an hour."

"How is she, Jimmy?"

"They cleaned up the wounds on her face, but her cheekbone is fractured." Alex pressed her hand to her mouth and tried to steady herself. "That's the worst of it." He assured her. "Her wrists and ankles are in bad shape but they've bandaged them too. They said there might be some scarring." Alex shook her head. "Jimmy, was she…did he?"

"No. There was no evidence of sexual assault at all." He said.

"Thank God." Gage said from behind him. Trivette ignored him, but Alex shot him a glare before turning back to Trivette.

"And Walker's bringing her home?" Alex verified.

Trivette nodded. "The doctor said she could come home tonight as long as we keep a close eye on her. Sydney said that Angela is really weak. Apparently, she wasn't fed the whole time she was missing."

"What?" Alex asked, infuriated, looking past Trivette to Gage. "He didn't feed her?"

"Angela said that he wanted to keep her weak, so that she couldn't fight back." Trivette said disgustedly.

Alex felt like something inside her snapped. She stormed past Trivette and walked right up to Gage. Looking him square in the eye, she spoke in a dangerously low voice. "I don't know if you had anything to do with this. I don't want to think you did, I don't want to think that you could hurt Angela like this. But I swear to God that if you did, Walker will have to wait in line because I will kill you myself." Tears rolled down her cheeks as she turned away from him and resumed her observations of the driveway outside the window. She didn't move until Walker's truck pulled in twenty-five minutes later.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi all! Here's the next chapter, let me know what you think!**

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><p>Angela was awake when they pulled up to the safe house. No one had talked much on the ride there and she wasn't much looking forward to the questions she knew were waiting for her inside. Walker parked the truck and turned it off. "Are you okay?"<p>

Angela smiled. "I'm fine." She said softly. "Just tired."

"I'll get the wheelchair out of the back." Sydney said, reaching for the door handle.

Angela started to shake her head but stopped when it made her dizzy. The hospital had pumped her full of liquid nutrients, but her head was still fuzzy. "I'm not using that. I don't want it."

"Okay. That's fine Angel." Walker said gently. "You don't have to. Are you ready to go in?"

She took a steadying breath. "Yeah, I'm ready."

Alex was watching from the window as Sydney and Walker helped Angela out of the truck. She was wearing one of Walker's old sweatshirts and a pair of scrubs the hospital had given her. Her hair was still damp after the shower Sydney had helped her take. Walker wrapped an arm around her waist, supporting most of her weight. Alex forced her face into an expression that hid her shock at the sight of Angela's battered face and the raw skin on her neck. She moved to the front door, holding back tears when Walker, Sydney, and Angela made their way through.

"Hi Mom." Angela said tentatively.

"Hi sweetie." Alex said. She held out her arms and wrapped Angela in them, holding her gently and supporting most of her weight. She felt so light and it took all of Alex's self-control to not break down again. Angela hugged her back, burying her face in Alex's neck. When they pulled apart minutes later, Alex helped her sit down on the couch. Alex sat on one side of her, Sydney on the other. Walker and Trivette sat in chairs across from them. Gage acted as though he was going to sit as well, but a sharp glance from Walker kept him standing across the room. There was an awkward silence for a minute or so.

"You guys can stop looking at me like I'm going to fall apart." Angela finally said, smiling at them. "I'm fine." She didn't like the way they were looking at her, like a victim. She didn't want to be a victim, she wanted to be normal. She wanted to get over what she'd been through and the way to do that was not to go on being treated with kid gloves. "Really." She emphasized. "I'm fine." Her words were underscored by the slight look of discomfort that crossed her face when she moved. She reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and the over-long sleeve of the sweatshirt slipped back, revealing the bright-white bandage around her wrist. She could feel their eyes on it, and shook the sleeve back into place.

"Angel, are you up for some questions?" Walker asked.

"Walker, not now." Alex chastised. "She's been through enough."

"No, Mom, it's fine. I'd rather get it out now. What do you want to know?"

"Did you get a good look at him?"

Angela started to shake her head, forgetting the effect it would have on her. She steadied herself and felt her mom's hand squeeze her own. "He wore a mask the whole time. He disguised his voice. From what I could see, I think he was white."

"How tall was he? How much did he weigh?" Walker asked.

"I don't know. I was sitting down the whole time; I had nothing to compare his height to. And I don't know how much he weighed, but he was strong, muscular."

"What happened the night he took you?" Trivette spoke up.

"I'd gone out with the team earlier, and when I got back I crashed. He jumped on top of me and I managed to get him off, but then he hit me from behind and I blacked out. I must have hit my head on something."

"Your bookshelf." Alex told her.

Angela nodded. "When I woke up, I was there, with him. And I couldn't get away." Her voice grew fainter as her mind took her back to where she didn't want to be. "I remember thinking that his eyes looked familiar, but I couldn't place them." She sighed. "This isn't helpful at all." Sydney stole a furtive glance at Gage before turning her attention back to Angela.

"You're doing fine." Sydney prompted her. "Anything you remember is good."

"There's really nothing else to say. I saw him maybe once a day, I think he must work during the day because he was only there at night."

"Did he say anything to you?"

"He talked about our future. He was convinced that we were going to live together and be happy for the rest of our lives. And then things changed one night, the night before he talked to you. He started talking to himself, sometimes yelling. I heard him say something about 'making them pay' but I don't know who he was talking about. Then, after he told mom to come meet him, he got excited and told me what he had planned. It was disgusting." She closed her eyes and when she opened them, they were wet. "The next day, he was angry that you hadn't come and he taunted me about it. Then he said that he'd come up with a new plan, one that would make things harder for him but that would have a huge reward once it was finished." She looked at each of them in turn. "That's really all I remember, I'm sorry." She whispered.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for." Walker told her firmly. "You did fine. Why don't you go upstairs and rest?"

"Can I stay down here? Please? I don't want to be alone right now." Her voice broke, her strength wavered.

"Of course you can." Alex told her. Sydney got up so that Angela could stretch her legs out on the couch; she rested the non-injured side of her face on Alex's thigh.

"Wake me up if I start snoring." She joked, embarrassed by her moment of vulnerability earlier. Within seconds, she appeared to be asleep. Alex placed a hand on her head, absentmindedly stroking her hair while she listened to the conversation going on around her.

"The RV is completely gone?" Gage asked

"Incinerated. We barely got out." Sydney said.

"Did you see the bomb anywhere in there?"

Sydney shook her head. "It must have been underneath."

"This doesn't make any sense." Trivette said. "At first, this was a typical stalker case: the camera in the bedroom, the initial kidnapping, even the part about the kidnapper talking about their future together. There was no evidence at all. Then, he makes contact and demands that Alex turn herself over to him. When she doesn't, he lets Angela go?" He shook his head. "I don't get it."

"Plus, the kidnapper had to have made the call to Alex on Angela's phone. There's no way Angela could have made that call." Walker said. "The phone was on the table when we got there."

"Do you think it was a trap?" Trivette asked. "Designed to lure you there and kill you?"

"That's an awfully risky trap." Sydney said. "If the bomb had been on a timer, he had no way of knowing how long it would take us to get to the RV, or how long we would be inside. There was no guarantee that he would have killed anyone."

"Then the bomb couldn't have been on a timer." Walker said. "It had to be activated by remote."

"That doesn't make sense either." Trivette countered. "Why didn't he blow it while you were inside?"

"Because Angela was still there." Trivette said. "He didn't want to kill her."

"He's not finished with her." Sydney agreed. "So why let her go? Why make contact at all? We had nothing to go on, he was free and clear."

Walker was deep in thought. "The things he said on the video, those were personal. This may not have been about Angela at all. What if he wanted Alex because he was trying to get to me?" he asked. "The best way to hurt someone is to take away what they love. Maybe he thought that by taking Angela, he would hurt me. Then somewhere along the way, that wasn't enough and he wanted to go after Alex."

"And when Alex didn't go along with it, he needed to come up with a new plan." Gage said, speaking up for the first time since Angela had arrived.

"By letting her go, he pretty much guaranteed that Angela and Alex would be together. And that Walker would be with them." Trivette said.

"He's not just targeting Angela. He's targeting all three of us." Alex said, terrified. "He's going to come back after her again, isn't he?"

The fact that no one would meet her gaze answered her question loud and clear. And the sudden silence in the room told Angela all she needed to know as she kept her eyes firmly shut.

He chuckled to himself, sitting in his car at the top of a hill over a thousand yards away from the so-called safe house. With his binoculars, it was as if he was there in the room with his prey. It hadn't been hard to find the house; it was all a matter of not being seen.

He'd hidden in the woods after he'd used Angela's phone to call Alex. He'd watched Walker and the brunette Ranger search the RV and his finger twitched over the detonator. It would be so easy to take Walker out; just the flip of a switch would end the man forever. How poetic that would be, to blow Walker up, to take him completely off guard, but he didn't. Angela was still in there and even though he was temporarily setting her free, he knew they would be together again soon. So he'd waited until the three were a safe distance away from the RV before he blew it, effectively eliminating any possible evidence he'd left. He knew they would take Angela to the nearest hospital, and he was there waiting in the Emergency Room parking lot by the time they arrived. He'd waited patiently for hours while she was being examined and his patience paid off when they wheeled her out of the hospital. Walker drove her away in his truck, unaware of the tracking device that was now in the right rear tire well. The kidnapper noted with satisfaction that the signal was transmitting loud and clear. It was merely a matter of staying out of sight as Walker led him right to the safe house. The kidnapper had scoped out a spot on the hill and had been there ever since. Now, he waited. The next phase of his plan required an extensive amount of planning, and it also required him to do the thing he hated most: rely on other people.

He'd already contacted several candidates that he wanted to make up his new team. They were an integral, but disposable, part of what needed to happen. Once everything was in place, he would execute his plan and be reunited with Angela, this time for good. But the best part, the very best part of all, was that he would take Walker and Alex down for good too.


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far! To those who are guessing who's behind this all I can say is...wait and see :)**

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><p>Days passed with no new leads. There had been no useful evidence recovered from the bombed RV and no contact from the kidnapper. Tensions were running high; the Rangers were under pressure to return to work, the commissioner wasn't willing to grant them indefinite leave even though Walker argued that they were working an open case. Everyone was starting to go stir crazy, having to stay in the house for most of the day. Finally, Walker and the commissioner agreed that the Rangers would work two at a time on other cases, always leaving two Rangers with Angela and Alex at the safe house. This relieved some of the stress, but Alex and Angela were feeling it more than anyone, except maybe Gage. While Angela hadn't seemed to pick up on what was going on, Walker had steadfastly ignored the younger Ranger since she'd been rescued. Everyone else was civil, but unwilling to give him the benefit of the doubt. He knew that all he needed to do was come clean, but the more time that passed the more reluctant he became. He was dreading the day he would have to make that admission.<p>

With each passing day, Angela recovered more of her strength. She could walk unassisted for a short distance but stairs were still proving to be a challenge. The bruising on her face was fading very slowly; most of it was still purple. The skin on her neck was completely healed but the wounds on her wrists and ankles still had to stay bandaged to prevent infection. She still looked exhausted and everyone knew that she wasn't sleeping well. She slept with her bedroom light on and often read late into the night. She was up before anyone else in the morning, which was saying something. She averaged maybe two hours of sleep on a good night. Nightmares plagued her, but she declined to talk about them to anyone.

Alex kept trying to get her to talk and got more frustrated each time she was shot down. She was convinced that Angela needed to talk about what happened in order to heal. Angela was sick of the coddling; what she longed for more than anything was to forget what had happened. In her mind, talking about it would only make things worse. Everyone else was caught in limbo, able to see both sides of the argument. They agreed that Angela needed to talk, but they felt that they needed to wait until she was ready.

On her sixth night at the safe house, Angela was, as usual, laying in her bed, wide awake, even though it was four in the morning. She hadn't yet been to sleep that night. Sighing, she rolled out of bed and slowly made her way downstairs, gripping the railing with both hands as she moved. When she got to the kitchen, she started the coffee maker and soon, the kitchen was filled with its aroma. She added milk and sugar and sat at the table, gripping the mug with both hands, trying to get rid of the chill that had encompassed her since she'd been rescued.

"Angela?" A voice said her name softly from the doorway and she jumped, sloshing coffee on the front of her t-shirt. She stood up and whirled around, her eyes wide with fear.

"Hey, it's okay. It's me. It's Gage." He held up his hands defensively. "Just me."

Angela offered up an embarrassed chuckle. "Sorry. Guess I'm a little jumpy still." Gage had a damp rag in his hand and moved as if he were going to dab at her shirt. Angela stepped back instinctively and Gage, realizing his mistake, set the rag on the table. He refilled her mug and helped himself to some coffee as she rubbed the stain out of her shirt.

"You're up awfully early." He said, sitting down across from her.

"I couldn't sleep." She sipped her coffee. "It seemed silly to stay in bed when I'm not going to sleep."

"Why couldn't you sleep?" Gage pried gently.

Angela rolled her eyes. "I thought we were past all this." She accused.

"We don't have to talk about it. I just thought it might help. There's no shame in talking, you know."

"I know that. I do." She admitted. After some hesitation, she spoke again. "When I go to sleep, I feel like I'm back there. With him. When I close my eyes, I can't figure out if I'm here or there. And when I sleep, I see him. And I can feel his hands on me, and his lips. And then I wake up, and I'm terrified to go back to sleep." She bowed her head. "I know it's stupid."

Gage shook his head. "It's not stupid. It's normal. You went through something terrible. The nightmares are your mind's way of sorting through and dealing with everything. Hey, look at me." He ordered. Angela obliged, her cheeks stained with the tears she'd been trying to hold in for the last week. "You're going to be fine. You're safe now, you have to know that. And as time goes on, the nightmares are going to go away. You have to let your mind heal itself, just like your body has to heal itself."

"I just…I hate being scared all the time, wondering when he's going to come back. Because he's not finished with me, is he?"

Gage hesitated.

"It's okay, I heard you guys talking the day I came here. I know you don't think he's going to give up."

"You weren't meant to hear that." Gage said apologetically.

"Its fine, I'm glad I did. I need to know what's going on in the investigation. I'm going to go crazy otherwise, not knowing. Are you any closer to catching him?"

Gage shook his head. "Not really. We don't have much to go on. Is there anything else you can remember?"

Angela stared past him thoughtfully. "You know, I keep having this thought that I know him. His voice was disguised, but it was more the tone, you know? And his eyes, they looked familiar, but I don't know from where."

"That's okay. No one expects you to be able to know everything. It will come back to you eventually. But you need to get some sleep. For your body and your mind to heal themselves, you need to sleep. Let me ask you something. Are you more afraid of the nightmares, or are you afraid of being afraid?"

A fresh batch of tears spilled over. "I don't like feeling vulnerable, Gage. I hate knowing that I'm weak."

Gage shook his head. "No way." He said firmly. "Listen to me. You're not weak, and you're not any more vulnerable than anyone else in this house. Do you hear me? You have been through more than anyone can possibly imagine, and you're still here. Do you know what that means? That means you're strong enough to survive, to get past this. You just have to let us help you." Gage said. He tentatively stretched his hand out across the table and covered Angela's. She forced herself not to withdraw it out of fear and after only a few seconds, she felt her heart slow until it was back to normal.

"Don't touch her!" a voice shouted from the doorway. Angela whipped her head around, regretting it instantly as a wave of pain hit her. Walker was standing there looking livid. Alex was behind him, next to Sydney. Trivette brought up the rear. Walker marched into the kitchen and pulled Gage away from the table.

"Dad, what's going on?" Angela asked.

"Do you want to tell her?" Walker asked Gage, glaring at him.

"Tell me what?" Angela asked again. Alex moved behind her and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders but Angela shrugged it off. "Someone tell me what's going on!" she demanded, looking from Alex, Trivette, and Sydney to Walker and Gage. Comprehension dawned on her face as she put two and two together.

"Oh my God." She whispered. "Gage? You think Gage was the one?" she shook her head gently. "No, it wasn't him." She said definitively.

"None of us want to believe it was him." Alex told her. "But Angela, the morning he called us, Gage was gone. He had no reason for not being at work."

"His knuckles were bruised, as if he'd been punching someone." Sydney told her.

Angela let out an exasperated sigh. "It wasn't him." She moved slowly toward her dad and placed a reassuring hand on his back. "Daddy, it wasn't him."

"How do you know that?" Walker asked her; his eyes never leaving Gage's face.

"His eyes." She told him softly. She stared into Gage's baby blues. "His eyes were dark, almost black. It wasn't Gage. It couldn't have been."

Slowly, Walker loosened his hold on Gage. "That still doesn't explain where you were that morning.

Gage cleared his throat. "I owe you an apology." He spoke past Walker to Angela. He sighed. "I screwed up big time. After I dropped Sydney and Trivette off at CD's, I drove off. I wanted to be alone. I went to another bar and got trashed and ended up getting in a fight with some drunken fool. That's why my hand was bruised." He told Sydney. She was ashamed of herself – how could she ever have suspected her partner? She trusted Gage with her life. Gage continued. "They called me a cab and I went home. My phone really did die and by the time I woke up the next morning, I was already late for work. I had to get a cab back to the bar to pick up my car and by the time I got to headquarters, I had missed everything that happened." He looked at Angela. "I feel terrible. I'm so sorry."

"It's fine." She told him. "It's not like anything different would have happened if you'd been there to watch too." She told him.

Gage looked at Walker. "I'm sorry Walker. And I'm sorry for not telling you. It was stupid, but I was embarrassed." Tentatively, Gage held out his hand for a handshake, Walker's universal sign of forgiveness. After a moment of debate, Walker took it.

"Next time," he said "I would rather you just tell me what's going on so I don't make the mistake of almost killing you."

Gage grinned. "Fair enough. No hard feelings?" he tossed the question at Trivette, Sydney, and Alex.

Trivette grinned. "No worries. Is this coffee any good?" He marched into the kitchen

"Who cares about the coffee? I'm more interested in the bagels." Sydney said, following him in. She brushed by Gage on her way to the counter. "Sorry Francis." She said, still not believing how quick she had been to condemn him. "I don't know what happened."

"I think everyone got a little caught up in what was going on. I didn't exactly help matters." Gage admitted, raising and eyebrow at her. She punched his arm and grabbed a bagel.

Walker and Alex were close behind them, and they quietly helped themselves to coffee and bagels. Before long, everyone was seated around the table, breakfasting good naturedly.

"I have to ask." Angela said. "How long were you guys all standing out there?"

Furtive glances were shared all around the table.

"Long enough to know that you're going to be just fine." Alex finally said, squeezing Angela's hand. Angela smiled in return, grateful for and emboldened by the people that surrounded her.

The man was furious. He was looking through his binoculars from the same spot on the hill into the kitchen of the safe house. She saw Angela holding hands with that man and the anger he felt was incalculable. How dare she betray him like that? Did their time together mean nothing to her? How could she issue such a clear rebuttal of his courtship by holding hands with another man? He forced himself to calm down. He needed his head to be clear. He called the head of the new team, forgoing any sort of greeting when he answered.

"We're doing it tomorrow. Make sure your men are ready. I won't tolerate failure. And there's a bonus in it for you if you kill the blonde Ranger. You kill Ranger Francis Gage, and you'll get the bonus." He snapped his phone shut and set it on the hood of his car. He raised the binoculars once again so he could have a clear view of the people in the kitchen.

"Would you live your lives any differently if you knew what was going to happen less than twenty-four hours from now?" he asked. "Oh, if you only knew what was going to happen. I hope you have a hell of a dinner tonight, because it's the last one you're going to have."


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi all! We're getting closer to resolving this whole mystery...keep reading and reviewing; I love your feedback!**

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><p>Less than a mile away from the safe house the kidnapper was in the middle of a discussion with his newly hired team. It was dinnertime in the safe house but for the kidnapper, it was time to firm up the plan of attack.<p>

The hit team consisted of six men, all ex-army Special Forces. They were the best of the best in the Dallas area. Right now, they were looking through the folders that had just been handed to them by the kidnapper. In them were six pictures, one of each inhabitant of the safe house, and a floor plan.

The kidnapper was outlining some rough guidelines for the attack. "There are six people in there: four Texas Rangers, one Assistant District Attorney, and one nineteen year old girl. The attorney, the girl, and this man," he pointed to Alex, Angela, and Walker's pictures, "must be alive when you're through. I will take care of them personally. Rangers Trivette, Gage, and Cooke," he pointed to the photos in turn, "are fair game for any of you. Now, my original intent was to only maim and incapacitate, not kill. That's changed. There's an extra ten grand in this for whoever kills Ranger Gage. There's an extra five grand for whoever kills either of the other two Rangers. The most important thing is to leave the cowboy, Alexandra, and Angela alive. This should be mostly easy for you; we'll attack at dawn while everyone is still asleep. I'll go in through the back and get the attorney and the girl out of the house. I'm taking them with me. Walker needs to be alive, I'll get him later. Don't underestimate these people, once they know what's going on, they'll fight back."

"Don't worry about it." The team leader said; he was a large man named Carter. He went on to outline the specific formations of the attack. His team would be spread out around the house, two on each side, except the back, which faced the woods. They'd go in with stealth on their side, avoiding the bedroom where Angela slept. The problem would lie in the fact that Alex and Walker were in the same room. It was decided that at some point, they would have to do something to draw Walker out, inevitably sending Alex into Angela's room. Carter was confident that his team could carry out this mission; there was a huge payoff that served as a decent level of motivation.

The kidnapper listened to their plans with satisfaction. If everything went well, he would have Alex and Angela as bait for Walker, and everyone else would be dead. Including the team he'd assembled. He never intended them to survive.

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><p>Dinner that night was a pleasant affair, given the circumstances. There was more laughter around the table than there had been during previous dinners. Everyone lingered at the table afterwards, talking about non-case-related subjects. Angela couldn't wait to get back to school and to soccer; she wanted to see her friends. She talked enthusiastically about her classes, recalling dumber things people had said in class. It was great to see her laugh so much and that, more than anything, elevated the mood even higher.<p>

Angela finally managed to fall asleep inside of an hour that night. Her sleep started off peacefully but soon she found herself in the midst of another nightmare, similar to her other ones. She was back in the closet, bound and gagged, helpless as her captor touched her all over. But this time when he stopped and stood up in front of her, staring into her eyes, she stared back, willing herself to figure out where she knew his eyes from. And then, suddenly, the mask was gone, replaced with a face that she knew all too well. The eyes had been there all along, she just didn't want to let herself figure it out.

Panting, she sat bolt upright in bed, glancing at the clock. It was 4:30 in the morning.

"Dad!" she called, knowing he was probably already awake. Sure enough, he came running, followed by Alex, Gage, Sydney, and Trivette, all in their pajamas, all holding their weapons.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Walker asked, looking around her room for the presumed intruder.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Angela said hurriedly. "I had a nightmare."

Alex sat on her bed and put an arm around her daughter. "It's okay sweetie, that's okay. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, mom, that's not what I mean. My nightmare was the same as the other ones I've had, at least at first." She shook her head. "I know who it is. I know who's after me!" she exclaimed. Before she could continue, Trivette noticed something moving outside Angela's window.

"We've got company." He said, sprinting out of the room.

"Stay here, stay down!" Walker told Alex and Angela. They huddled together on the floor behind Angela's bed, gripping each other's hands as the sounds of gunfire erupted around them.

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><p>The Rangers spread out as soon as they were out the front door and Walker and Sydney took down two men with head and neck shots. Trivette and Walker went around one side of the house, Sydney and Gage took the other. As soon as Walker and Trivette rounded the corner a burst of machine gun fire came pelting in their direction. They pressed themselves against the wall of the house.<p>

"You want to go low or high?" Trivette asked.

"I'll go low, you go high."

"I always go high." Trivette said.

"Now's not the time to argue. Go!"

Walker crouched down under Trivette's arm and both emptied their clips. Shouts of pain mingled with desperate machine gun fire but their guys went down. The Rangers checked the gunmen; both were dead. Walker had no regrets, there was a time for hand to hand combat, but this wasn't it. They ran to the other side of the house where Sydney and Gage had also been victorious.

"Do you think we got him?" Sydney asked, looking down at the dead men.

"None of them looked familiar." Trivette answered.

"Let's go ask Angela. She said she knew who it was. Chances are he's dead now." Walker said.

Holstering their weapons, everyone moved inside and made their way upstairs. "Alex? Angela? You can come out now." Walker said as he entered Angela's bedroom.

"Alex?" He looked under the bed. "Angela?" he peered into the closet. Neither one of them was in the bedroom. "Search the house. Maybe they got spooked." Walker said, his heart beating faster and faster.

Five minutes was all it took for the Rangers to be sure that Alex and Angela were not anywhere in the house.

"Maybe they ran into the woods?" Trivette suggested, glancing at the tree line.

They spread out and walked toward the trees.

"I have footprints here!" Gage called. "Two sets." Everyone hurried over. "Alex and Angela were both barefoot, right?" he verified.

"Yeah." Walker said, losing hope fast. They were staring at two sets of prints; one was those of a small person who'd been barefoot. The other was larger, and they'd been wearing boots.

"Maybe one of them put shoes on before they left?" Sydney said hopelessly.

Walker shook his head. "Looks to me like Alex was barefoot, and Angela was carried." He looked off into the distance. "This was all a distraction. They're gone."

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><p>The gunfire was all they could hear from their corner of the room. They had no way of knowing if it was coming from their side or not and Angela closed her eyes to try to block it out. She felt her mom squeeze her hand and whisper in her ear. "Someone's coming up the stairs. Get behind me."<p>

Sure enough, Angela looked out her bedroom door and saw a shadow moving toward her room. Her mom positioned her body in front of Angela's and braced herself for whatever was coming. A masked man came into the room and Angela's heart sank. One look into his eyes told her what she needed to know: he'd come back for her.

"Hello Angel." He said, loud enough to be heard over the gunshots. He pointed a gun at them. "Get up."

Alex spoke up defiantly. "You're not taking her."

"You're right. I'm taking both of you. Let's go." He beckoned them toward him with the gun. Neither moved; Angela felt like she was rooted to the floor. There was a pause in the gunfire that filled her with momentary hope that someone was coming to help them. But when it started up again, she knew all was lost. "I'm only going to tell you one more time." The man told them, flipping off the safety. "Let's go."

Slowly, Alex and Angela made their way forward. Still holding his gun, he gripped each of their arms and dragged them out of the room and down the stairs. Angela tried her best to hold him up.

"Let's go, Angel. I don't want to have to hurt you." He told her impatiently.

"I'm sorry. I'm still recovering." She lied.

He sighed and pointed at Alex. "You walk in front. Go where I tell you to go. If you get the urge to run, just remember that you'd be leaving your daughter alone with me. Again." Without another word, he scooped Angela into his arms and held her tightly, eliminating any struggle she could put up. Even though she'd exaggerated about her recovery earlier, she still wasn't completely back to normal.

He ordered Alex to go out the back door and into the woods. They moved quickly and silently. The gunshots at the house had stopped and just as Angela started to hope that someone would be following them by now, they came upon a nondescript, windowless black van at the end of a service road. He set Angela on her feet in front of him but wrapped his arm around her torso and held her close.

"Open the door." He ordered Alex. She obliged. "Get in." She looked around helplessly. "Get. In." he told her again, holding the gun to Angela's head. Alex climbed into the back of the van and the man pushed Angela in after her. He climbed in behind them and shut the door. He reached over the passenger sheet and retrieved a cloth that was already damp with chloroform. Without another word, he covered Angela's nose and mouth, ignoring her frantic clawing until it subsided and she went limp in his arms. He turned to face Alex. "You really are beautiful, Alexandra. I see why he wanted you." He lunged toward her, pressing the cloth to her face. She seemed resigned, at least, she didn't fight him. Once she was unconscious, he withdrew two pairs of handcuffs from his bag on the passenger seat and cuffed their hands behind their backs. He took two lengths of black cloth and tied it around their eyes. He didn't bother to gag them; they'd be out cold for awhile and after that, it didn't really matter if they screamed. No one would hear them.

As he drove away from their so-called safe house, he reflected on how well his plan had worked out. He'd gotten in and out of the house undetected and he had his prey. Knowing Walker, the Special Forces team he'd assembled was dead, leaving him with no possible leads. All that was left was to reel him in.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey all! I hope you're still loving this story as much as I loved writing it. Let me know what you think!**

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><p>Walker, Trivette, Sydney, and Gage were crowded around the dining room table, oblivious to the activity going on around them. Crime scene technicians and uniformed officers were combing the area around the house, but Walker wasn't hopeful. They'd followed the footprints until they ended at an asphalt service road. The kidnapper probably had a car waiting, and they now had nothing to go on.<p>

"Okay, here's what we know. We know that this was a setup, a distraction." Trivette said.

"We also know that Angela had figured out who the kidnapper was." Gage added.

"So we know it has to be someone she knows." Sydney said. "Can we narrow that down?"

Walker shook his head. "There are too many people. It could be anyone she's ever come into contact with."

Trivette rubbed his brow. "Something's been bothering me. I feel like something this guy has said or done should give us a clue as to who he is."

"We've barely had contact with him." Sydney said. "Just from the video he sent."

"Play that back, will you?" Trivette requested.

They watched the horrifying video all the way through, Gage for the first time, and Trivette appeared to be lost in thought. Suddenly, he slammed his hand on the table and turned to look at Walker. "Walker, I got it. Think about what he said. He calls Alex 'Alexandra'. He calls you 'Cowboy'. Who is the only person you know who has ever done that?"

Walker's eyes widened. "LaRue."

"Who?" Gage asked.

"Victor LaRue was a madman who had a thing for Alex. He kidnapped her once with a whole group of people. He went to prison but got out on a technicality, then stalked her for days until he went after her again. He almost killed Walker and he was minutes away from raping Alex when Walker saved her again. He went back to prison and during his trial he took the courtroom hostage and used Alex as bait to draw Walker in. He always called Alex by her full name and he always called Walker 'Cowboy'. Walker, it's got to be him!"

"Trivette, Victor LaRue is dead. I shot him in the courtroom."

"I know. I know that, Walker. I'm just saying it's worth running down."

Walker nodded. "You're right. Run down everything, known accomplices, family members, everything." He stepped away as his phone vibrated; the number was blocked. "Walker." He said as he flipped it open.

"If you want them back, meet me at the old Archways warehouse on Fifth Street. I'll be there waiting for you. Come alone, Cowboy, I'll know if you don't."

The call was disconnected. "Who was that?" Sydney asked.

"Crime lab." Walker lied. "They've come up empty so far."

Sydney nodded. "We'll find them Walker. You know we will."

Walker nodded and forced a smile. "I know."

"Hey, Walker, I got something!" Trivette called. "Victor LaRue was an only child, parents both deceased. No living cousins, uncles, anyone I can see that would carry on his work. Except…Victor LaRue is listed on the birth certificate of a child born to a woman named Joann Collins. The child's name is…Victor Collins."

"Why does that name ring a bell?" Gage asked.

"I met him at Angela's soccer game." Walker said slowly. "He's her criminology professor."

"That fits. That explains why no one stopped him when he took Angela. He's someone people were used to seeing around campus, no one would think twice about that." Sydney said.

"So, what? He's carrying on his father's legacy? His dad focused on Alex, so now the son is focused on Angela?" Trivette asked.

"That's a hell of a coincidence. He had no way of knowing that Angela would end up at that university." Gage said.

Sydney shook her head. "It's not a coincidence. It looks like Collins has been following Angela her whole life."

"What makes you say that?" Walker asked sharply.

"I have Collins' employment records. He got his Master's in Criminal Justice but took a job as a janitor at First Elementary School." Sydney reported, reading off her computer.

"That's where Angela went to elementary school." Walker said.

"Five years later, he left the elementary school and got a job as a janitor at Westbrook Middle School."

"Angela went there too." Walker said slowly.

"It gets worse. He was a janitor at her high school too. He got a job at the university one month before the semester started."

"He's been following her through her whole life." Gage said.

"Which means he's had nineteen years to plan this." Trivette said.

"Okay. He has to have left a trail somewhere." Walker said vehemently. "Gage, Sydney, you guys go to his apartment, or house, or whatever rock he lives under. Trivette, tell campus security to search his office."

"What are you going to do?" Trivette was looking at him worriedly.

"I'm going to call in the cavalry. I'm going to get air support, every Ranger, plainclothes detective, every search dog and Segway-riding mall cop out here."

Sydney and Gage departed as Trivette picked up the phone and started making calls. Unnoticed, Walker slipped out the front door and into his truck. He took off for the warehouse without a backward glance. He was going to get his girls back.

"Walker? Hey, Walker!" Trivette called a few minutes later. "Listen to this, man. Security searched his office and…Walker?" Trivette peered through the door. "Damn!" He raced to the front door, cursing again when he realized Walker's truck was gone. He pressed Gage's number into his phone. "Gage, Walker's gone. He took off."

"Where?"

"I don't know where! I just got off the phone and he was gone." Trivette rubbed his brow. He heard Sydney's voice come through the phone.

"He got a phone call earlier. He told me it was the lab."

"The lab couldn't have any results yet, there's no way that was them." Trivette said angrily. "It was him! Collins called Walker, he baited him." Trivette let out a long slow breath. "We need to figure out where Collins is hiding them. Call me after you search Collins' apartment, we need anything we can get."

"Copy that. Do you have anything on your end?" Gage asked.

"I talked to campus security. There was a locked drawer full of photos of Angela and DVDs. Looks like we knew where the video from Angela's bedroom was going. The security guy said that judging by the number of DVDs there must be over a hundred hours of footage."

Gage growled angrily. "I want to get this son of a bitch."

"Me too. Just call me after you go through his apartment."

"Copy that." Gage said, disconnecting.

Trivette threw his phone on the table. "Damn it Walker. Where did you go?"

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><p>Miles away, Walker parked his truck outside the warehouse. He closed the door softly and drew his gun, walking quietly through the open doors. The inside appeared to be empty, aside from the old and broken down machinery. Without warning, there was a screech of tires as a black van came barreling toward Walker. He held out his gun but hesitated before firing; Alex and Angela could be in the van and he couldn't see who he was firing at. He made the decision to dive out of the way a split second too late, the van hit him full force and Walker went flying across the room. He crumpled to the floor and the van stopped three feet away from him.<p>

Collins stepped out of the car and bent over Walker's body. His pulse was strong but he was out cold. Collins cuffed Walker's hands behind his back and tucked Walker's gun into his own waistband. He wrapped a cord around Walker's ankles, pulling it tight and binding his ankles together. He gripped Walker under his arms, dragging him to the van before propping him up in the passenger seat of the car and buckling him in. He slammed the door shut and got back into the driver seat. He looked back to where Alex and Angela were lying, still unconscious from the chloroform.

"The whole gang is back together again." He said gleefully. "Now the fun really starts."


	14. Chapter 14

**Hi all! The action picks up here and I actually toyed with changing the rating on this story, but I think it'll be okay. Just be forewarned : ) Let me know what you think!**

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><p>Sydney and Gage were standing outside Collins' apartment and Gage prepped himself to kick to door in. Sydney placed a hand on his chest. "We're not taking a chance on this guy getting out on a technicality." She said.<p>

"Mr. Collins!" she said loudly, knocking on the door. "Texas Rangers, we have a warrant, open up!" There was no answer.

"Can I kick it now?" Gage asked sarcastically.

"Be my guest." Sydney granted.

Gage's foot connected with the door and a loud splintering noise filled the air. Within minutes, Sydney and Gage had cleared the apartment. There was no sign of Angela, Alex, or Collins. The apartment was a typical bachelor pad; there were dishes in the sink, clothes strewn on the floor, and no mop in sight. If the kitchen and living room area revealed nothing of interest, the bedroom was a veritable gold mine of creepiness. Collins' bed was unmade, the sheets tangled around the legs of a blowup doll that had a picture of Angela's face taped on its head. The walls were plastered with shots of Angela, all evidently taken without her knowing. A television and DVD player were tucked in the corner. Gage pressed 'play' and footage of Angela in her apartment started playing. Collins apparently didn't leave all of his DVDs in his office.

"This is disgusting." Sydney muttered, looking around the room, shifting piles of paper and photos aside. "Gage, look at this." She handed him a pile of photos, also of Angela. These were far older than the ones on his walls; dating all the way back to when Angela was six or seven. There were pictures of her on the school playground, eating lunch in the cafeteria.

"I've always hated camera phones." Gage growled, tossing the pictures to the floor and pulling out his phone.

"Yeah, Trivette, it's Gage. We don't have anything here so far. Nothing but pictures. No hints as to where Collins could be hiding out."

"Alright, get a couple of uniforms to stay at the apartment and come back here. I just had Collins's financials sent over; I'm hoping there'll be something in there we can use to track him."

"We're on our way." Gage responded, hanging up. Sydney nodded.

"Let's go."

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><p>They were ten minutes from their destination when Walker started stirring. He woke slowly, disoriented. He noted that his wrists were handcuffed and his ankles bound. He looked to his left and saw the kidnapper driving, humming contentedly to himself.<p>

"Before you say or do anything," Collins said softly, "I suggest you take a look behind you."

Walker turned in his seat with difficulty, his eyes falling on the unconscious figures of his wife and daughter. He turned back around to face forward, trying desperately to think of a way out of this.

"Very good, Cowboy. I see you've learned to take orders since the last time we talked. Now, stay quiet. I wouldn't want you to miss the fun."

Walker stared out the window at the passing scenery, watching as it changed from highway into dense woods. He was jostled in his seat as the road turned uneven. Collins stopped the van in front of a huge house, three stories at least. It looked old but it was obviously well kept. Without warning, Collins' hand shot out and landed against Walker's chest, hitting him with a stun gun for a full five seconds. Walker's body seized before he went limp. Collins patted his shoulder as if to console him.

"Sorry Cowboy. I couldn't have you messing things up for me. No worries though, you'll be back to your normal self in no time." Walker's eyes fluttered as Collins climbed out of the car and walked around the front to the passenger side of the van. He opened the door and pulled Walker out of the seat, dragging him into the house. The fact that Walker was dead weight didn't seem to bother Collins; he didn't even break a sweat. He dragged him through a long hallway toward the back of the house, dropping his body to the floor when they'd reached their destination. Walker felt his head connect with the wood floor and he struggled to stay focused on what Collins was doing. Before he knew it, Collins was dragging him again, this time to a metal chair that he'd set up in the middle of the room. Collins unlocked the cuffs and they fell away as Collins propped Walker up in the chair. He pulled out a new package of plastic ties and waved them in front of Walker's face.

"You might have guessed that these are my favorite. They're almost impossible to break, especially for a nineteen year old girl. But they'll work for you too. Plus, you should feel honored. I ordered this chair especially for you. It's a steel alloy and you're not going to break it either." He said with a grin, binding each of Walker's wrists to the arms of the chair. For good measure, he wrapped a few of the restraints around Walker's forearms as well; he wanted to prevent as much mobility as possible. Walker felt the ties dig in to his skin and fought to make his body do what he wanted it to. The effects of the stun gun were proving victorious however; Walker couldn't do anything except make is head loll.

Once Collins was convinced that Walker's arms were secure, he undid the bindings around his ankles, pulling them apart and securing them to each of the chair legs, once around the ankle and again just under the knee. He pulled them as tight as they would go and stood back, evidently pleased with himself. He reached into his bag and pulled out a roll of duct tape, which he proceeded to wrap around Walker's chest and shoulders, holding his back against the chair. "You know," he said as he did this, "I feel really bad that I didn't have time to put a hook in the wall for you. Angela loved that so much, and it would have been great to watch you try to move your head later on. Oh well, this will have to work." Collins was almost giddy now, reveling in the success of capturing the elusive Ranger Walker and seeing him incapacitated and helpless. Once he was satisfied that Walker couldn't move anywhere, he set the duct tape aside and stood back to admire his handiwork.

"How does that feel Cowboy? Everything feel alright? Come on now, shake that look off your face, I asked you a question. Angela sat just like that for a week and I never heard her complain. It's not too comfortable though, is it? Yeah, she sat looking just like that for a week. Well, not looking just like that, she's much prettier than you are. But sill, you should have seen the look on her face, the hope that she had every time that door opened. She thought it was going to be you. How does it feel to know that you failed your own daughter?"

Walker focused all his energy on making his mouth speak the words he was thinking. "Let them go. Keep me, kill me, I don't care. But let Alex and Angela go." He finally whispered.

Collins laughed in his face. "Let them go? After everything I've worked for? Not likely, my friend, not likely. I need them. You see these screens here?" He indicated two flat screen television monitors that were mounted on the wall in front of Walker. He took Walker's lack of response for assent. "You watch these very carefully and you remember that what happens is all because of you." He stuck his face inches away from Walker's. "You killed my father. Consider this your punishment." He backed away again and picked up the duct tape. "Now, stay still and stay quiet. I don't want you to miss anything." He placed the end of the tape over Walker's mouth and wrapped the roll around his head four times before ripping and smoothing the tape into place.

"Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show, Cowboy." He flipped a switch on each of the television screens and two colorful images filled them, showing Walker exactly was coming, as if he couldn't have guessed.

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><p>Alex had been awake for some time, unable to tell who she was with. She'd tried rubbing her head against the floor of the van in an effort to remove the blindfold but it was tied too tightly for her to get it off. She heard Collins talking to someone in the front seat but couldn't make out his exact words. When she felt the van lurch to a stop and the door open and close, she called Angela's name. Angela answered; her voice was much closer to Alex than she'd anticipated.<p>

"Mom?" she asked softly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. Where are we, can you see anything?"

"No. But listen to me; I need you to promise me something."

Angela had seen this coming. "Mom-"

"Listen, Angela." Alex hissed. "If you get the chance, I want you to run. Run away from here, as fast as you can."

"I'm not going to leave you here." Angela said firmly.

"Angela, promise me. Please." Alex's voice wavered as she pressed her forehead against Angela's. "I need to know that there's a chance you'll get away."

"Okay, Mom. I promise." Angela whispered.

The back doors to the van flew open; Alex could feel the sunlight on her face and her heart rate sped up.

"Ladies!" Collins exclaimed cheerfully. "Are we ready to go?"

He grabbed one of Alex's ankles and pulled her toward him, gripping her upper arm and pulling her to a standing position. He did the same with Angela. Holding one woman on each side of him he led them, stumbling over the rocky terrain, into the house. He decided to take them on a long route through the house just for the hell of it. The kicker for him was that by taking them up the back staircase, he got to parade Walker's wife and daughter right in front of him, and there was nothing the Cowboy could do about it.

He relished the hatred in Walker's eyes as he walked the women past him, especially the anger that flashed when Alex stumbled on the bottom stair.

"Whoopsie." Collins joked. "Guess I should have warned you about the stairs. Up we go!" He dragged them up the stairs and down another winding hallway and into a large bedroom. He let go of their arms and shut the door behind him, latching it shut. Alex and Angela stayed huddled together right where he had left them.

He walked toward them slowly, running his hand along Angela's waist and loving the goose bumps he felt rise on her bare skin. Once again, he'd taken her while she'd been in her pajamas, but she seemed to have changed her sleep preferences. She was wearing a pair of sweatpants and an old t-shirt that was slightly askew, revealing the slightest inch of skin on her back.

He removed Alex's blindfold first, then her handcuffs. She rubbed her wrists as Collins went to work removing Angela's blindfold and handcuffs. While he was doing that, Alex took a look around the room and couldn't contain the audible gasp that escaped. If she didn't know better, she would have believed that she was back in the guest room at Walker's house, over twenty years ago when LaRue had held her hostage. The bed had the same wrought iron frame, the same candles atop the bedposts. But what made her heart pound was the chain dangling from each bedpost, looking deceptively unthreatening. She could almost feel the leather straps rubbing against her wrists and ankles as she struggled to free herself. In that instant, everything became real. This was no longer something she had a chance of talking her way out of, it was really happening. The only thing that gave her hope was that there was only one bed. Angela still had a chance to get out of here.

Angela was taking in her mom's reaction with apprehension. She'd never heard the name Victor LaRue or the story surrounding their history. She was so focused on her mom that she hadn't noticed Collins moving around the room until he was right in front of them. He held two gift bags in his hands.

"Ladies." He bowed slightly; Alex gripped Angela's hand. "I have gifts for you. A token of my anticipation of what tonight will bring. Take them." He held them out and the women took their respective bags warily.

"Go on, open them!" Collins said excitedly, looking like a young child on Christmas morning.

Alex was sure that her heart stopped when she pulled out the contents of the bag: blue jeans and a white long-sleeved crop top. They were the exact same clothes she'd worn the second time LaRue had terrorized her.

Angela was staring at her items with a similar level of horror. They were wildly unlike anything she would ever wear, consisting of a white skirt that looked as though it might fall to mid thigh, if she was lucky. The top was similar to a corset, strapless and form-fitting; it was made of a cerulean, silky material.

"Are you joking?" she couldn't contain herself.

Collins' smile faltered only slightly. "I think the blue will look lovely on you. I picked this out for you a long time ago and I can't wait to see you in it. Now get dressed. Both of you."

They had no choice but to do what he said. They changed quickly, Alex trying her best to shield Angela from Collins' view. Angela grimaced as she looked down at herself; the skirt she was wearing barely cleared her butt. She'd refused to take off her bra so that the black straps showed on her shoulders. Collins moved toward her, tracing each strap with his hand. She resisted the urge to move away, instead choosing to wrap her arms around herself protectively.

"You look beautiful." He whispered, letting his hands trail across her collarbone. "But first things first." He faced Alex.

"Lie down on the bed." He ordered her. She didn't move. Collins raised his gun and pressed it to Angela's head. "Lie down on the bed, now." He commanded again.

Alex obliged and Collins released Angela, pushing her away from him. Slowly, she backed toward the door as Collins moved toward her mother. Alex nodded at her as Collins gently pressed her shoulders down until she was laying flat. He grabbed hold of one of her arms and stretched it to the corner of the bed, wrapping the leather cuff around it and pulling it tight. Angela's fingers felt against the door for the latch and when she found it, she flipped it and yanked the door open. She sprinted out of the room and down the hall, not bothering to look behind her. She heard Alex's voice yelling after her. "Run! Angela, go!"

As Angela's footsteps pounded against the floor, Collins laughed in Alex's face. "She's not going to get away." He taunted. "I'm going to find her, and then I'm going to make her mine." He finished binding her wrists and ankles to the bed and held up a length of thick, stiff material covered in Velcro. "I'm sure you're familiar with this." He lifted her head and wrapped the material around it, securing it in place over her mouth. "Don't go anywhere." He laughed and exited the room.

"Angel!" he called. "I'm coming for you!"

Alex pulled helplessly against her restraints as a small camera in the corner of the room recorded her every move, just as it had been doing since Collins turned on the televisions downstairs, where Walker was fighting desperately to get free; forced to watch everything that was happening.


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey everyone! The same warning from the last chapter still applies, so read on with that in mind. Leave a review and let me know what you think!**

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><p>Angela's heart was racing. She knew Collins wasn't far behind her, but she had no idea where she was going. She'd finally found the stairs they'd climbed earlier and she flew down them, turning left at the bottom where she stopped short and lurched forward a little as if someone had grabbed her from behind. The sight in front of her was one that she couldn't comprehend because she'd never seen anything like it before.<p>

"Daddy?" her dad was bound to a chair and gagged with duct tape, but it wasn't that that scared her. What did scare her was the look of desperation in his eyes; it was a look she'd never seen on his face before. In one sinking moment she lost all hope. If her dad wasn't in a position to save them, hope was lost. Chances were that if he was here, everyone else was dead; Trivette, Gage, and Sydney wouldn't have let this happen. She'd heard the fire fight at the safe house but she didn't know who'd made it out alive. In that instant, she realized that there was no one left to save her and her mom from what Collins had planned.

That short instant of rumination proved to be a mistake as Walker's eyes widened in warning a second too late. She whirled around just in time to see Collins barreling towards her. He slammed his body into hers and kept running until she hit the far wall. She cried out in surprise and pain as she felt the wind get knocked out of her; the exclamation mingled with his gruff laughter. Collins grabbed a fistful of her hair and threw her to the ground. He grabbed her wrist and dragged her until she was lying on her back right in front of Walker. He knelt down with one knee on either side of her and grabbed her wrists, stretching them above her head. He muffled her protests by pressing his lips to hers, ignoring her flailing legs and the squirms of her body beneath his. Walker struggled helplessly, wanting more than anything to knock that man off his daughter.

Angela fought as hard as she could but Collins had every advantage; weight, body position, rage, everything was stacked in his favor. She was hyper-aware that her dad was being forced to watch every second of this and she avoided his eyes in shame. Finally, Collins whispered in her ear.

"We can do this in front of Daddy, or we can do this in private. Which one do you want?" he asked.

"Upstairs. Not here." She begged. "Please don't make him watch this."

"No promises, Angel." Collins answered, gesturing toward the television screens. He stood and pulled her to her feet. He wrapped one hand in her hair and used the other to twist her arm behind her back. He pushed her out of the room and back up the stairs, leaving Walker alone, unable to do anything to stop it.

They passed the room that Alex was being kept in and though the door was closed, Angela could hear dampened cries for help. She was surprised when Collins pushed her past the room and up another more hidden staircase. They followed the path of yet another hallway until he steered her into a slightly larger room. He pushed her forward and she fell onto the bed; Collins closed the door behind them, latching it shut as he had done earlier. When he turned back around, Angela was sitting up on the bed, clasping her hands.

"Please, Professor Collins," she began

"Call me Victor, Angel. Call me Victor." He insisted.

"Fine, Victor. Please, let my parents go. I'll stay with you, I'll go anywhere with you and do whatever you want. Just please don't hurt them." She begged tearfully.

Collins shook his head, evidently amused. "It's never been just about you, Angel." He told her. "I love you, don't get me wrong. I'm planning on us having a long, happy life together. But your…parents…deserve what's coming to them."

"They haven't done anything to you!" she protested, even as Collins pushed her down. "No, Victor, listen to me." She fought him desperately as he secured one wrist to the bedpost, then the other. "Please." He went to work on her ankles. Only when he was certain she was secure did he speak again.

"Angel, here's what I want you to do. Lie here and look beautiful; which you're already doing. But I also want you to listen. I'm going to go have a chat with your mother. I want to get her out of the way so that you and I can have all the time in the world without her hanging over our heads. Now, lift your head for me." He wrapped the same type of gag he'd used on Alex around Angela's head, fastening it tightly in place. He let his hands trail her body before he left, closing the door behind him.

* * *

><p>Alex was frantically tugging at the handcuffs when Collins came back into the room. She could tell by the look on his face that Angela hadn't gotten away. She could also tell that he wasn't going to take their escape attempt lightly; he looked furious.<p>

"See this?" he pointed to the upper corner of the room, where the camera was watching. "Your devoted husband is downstairs, watching us. And see this?" he pointed to a switch on the wall that Alex hadn't noticed before. He flipped it. "Now, Angela can hear everything we're saying. Keep those two things in mind while we chat. You wouldn't want to get yourself caught up in a lie."

He sat on the edge of the bed and undid Alex's gag.

"Please." She whispered. "Don't hurt them."

"Funny. That's exactly what Angela just said. She promised that she would run away with me if I let you and the cowboy go." Collins laughed. "But why not have the best of both worlds? I can take her with me after I kill you."

Alex swallowed hard, trying to keep her fear in check. "Why are you doing this?" she whispered.

"Speak up, Alexandra. We want to make sure everyone can hear you! Ask that question again, it's a good one!"

"Why are you doing this?" Alex asked in a normal voice.

Collins sighed. "I love that you're playing along, doing exactly what I want you to, asking all the right questions. Let me start from the beginning so that Angela can get the full story; the story you've kept from her all these years. My father met you during one of his criminal escapades. You helped send him to prison. Let me finish." He held up a hand when Alex looked like she wanted to say something.

"When he was rightfully released from prison after his lawyers shed light on the behind the scenes conspiracies, he tried to apologize to you and make amends. He professed his love for you and yet you repeatedly turned him away, ignoring his apologies."

Alex couldn't contain herself any longer. "He stalked me, broke into my apartment and trashed it. You call that an apology?" she said angrily, pulling her head and shoulders off the bed. "Your father was a despicable animal that deserved to die the way he did."

"Liar!" he shouted, punching Alex as hard as he could. She squealed in pain as her lip and cheek started to swell. "I know the whole story!" he continued, still shouting. "I was born a year before my father met you; he was using the money from the other kidnappings to take care of my mother and me! My mother was a low-life slut who only cared about her next score. My father was the only one who cared. He wrote me letters from prison that I found years later. He told me all about you, and how you led him on. How you broke his heart by choosing the wannabe cowboy downstairs over a man like him. He was heartbroken over your refusals." Collins lowered his voice. "He told me all the things that he wanted to do to you and told me that if I ever got the chance that I should do them instead. But I made his plan better. He never would have dreamed that I would do what I've done. Do you know how he would feel if he knew that you went and had a daughter with the man he loathes? Did you think for one second about how that would make him feel? No, you didn't." Collins took several deep breaths and sat down on the bed again. Alex inched her body away from him but he didn't seem to notice.

"After I found out that you had a daughter, I started planning all of this. I was only fourteen when she was born but I planned. I knew I had to do something to make you pay for what you'd done to my father. I watched Angela grow up from the time she was a little girl. I worked at her elementary school, did you know that? I saw you there too, you and Walker. And every time I saw you, you just looked right past me, as if I wasn't even there. I have been there for Angela all her life, watching over her and protecting her. And you never even noticed. I was invisible to you for nineteen years. Well, guess what?" he said, his voice getting louder again. "I'm not invisible anymore, am I? Do you see me now, Counselor? Answer me!" he commanded.

Alex nodded weakly. "Yes," she whispered, horrified. "I see you."

"Good." He whispered, stroking Alex's hair. "Now are you ready for the second part of my plan?" Without another word he ripped open her shirt, sending the buttons flying across the room. He rubbed his cheek against her stomach, loving the feel of her body squirming under his. He lay flat on top of her, kissing her hard. But as suddenly as he started, he stopped and stood up, wiping his mouth, then his forehead.

"Damn it!" he yelled. "I can't do this." He looked at Alex. "I thought I could wait to be with Angela until I'd gotten you out of the way but I can't. The thought of her upstairs waiting for me…" his voice trailed off. "I'll be back for you later." He decided. "I wouldn't want to have too much of a good thing right away."

Alex shook her head frantically, trying to stall him. "No, please don't hurt her."

"Hurt her? I'm not going to hurt her." Collins said. "I love her. I would never hurt her." He gagged Alex once again. "Don't worry. She and I will take our time. Then I'll come back down here, you and I will have a quickie and I'll slit your throat. Then I'll go kill your husband so he can join you in hell. Angela and I will run away and live happily ever after." He placed his mouth directly by her ear. "Do you want to know the best part?" he breathed. "The best part of all is that you and that cowboy will both die knowing that there's nothing you can do to stop me." Collins laughed maniacally before moving away from the bed. He was almost to the door when he turned back and flipped the switch on the wall again. "I don't want your protests to interrupt us." He explained. "See you soon, Alexandra." He closed the door with a soft click and once again she was all alone.

* * *

><p>Angela knew he was coming for her. She'd heard the entire conversation he'd had with her mom; her heart pounded when all she could hear was the muffled sounds of protest her mom was making. She was relieved when the struggle stopped but her skin turned icy cold when she heard him talking about her. In her mind, she could see the janitor standing at the edge of the elementary school cafeteria; she could pick out the face of a young Victor Collins. It was a frightening and disconcerting thought to know that he'd been watching her throughout her whole life; the thought tainted every happy memory she could summon.<p>

She was in the midst of a last ditch effort to pull herself free when she heard his footsteps outside her door. He entered the room, shutting and locking the door behind him.

"Hello Angel." He said softly.

* * *

><p>Back at the safe house the Rangers were poring over Collins' financial statements, looking for anything that could give them a clue as to where he had taken Walker, Alex, and Angela. So far, they'd come up empty.<p>

"There's nothing here." Gage said despondently. "We've been over everything and there's not a single useful bit of paper."

Trivette sighed and rubbed his face with both hands. "We've got to be missing something." His phone rang. "Yeah, this is Trivette." He answered it. "Where? When? Yeah, we're on our way." He hung up. "They found Walker's truck at the old Archways warehouse. There's no sign of Walker though."

"Maybe Collins left something behind." Sydney said hopefully.

"That's what I'm hoping. Bring the laptop, let's go."


	16. Chapter 16

**Same warning applies for this chapter...tell me what you think by leaving a review!**

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><p>The warehouse was a bustling scene of activity. Trivette quickly got the scoop from the detective in charge and reported back to Gage and Sydney.<p>

"There's no sign of Walker. And they've been over this place but there's no sign of Collins either."

"So this is another dead end?" Gage clarified angrily.

Trivette shook his head, unsure of what to say.

"You know, I was thinking on the way over here. We've been looking just through Collins' financials, right?" Sydney spoke up.

"Yeah, Syd, so?" Gage asked.

"He needs somewhere secluded to take them, somewhere with a lot of space and somewhere that people wouldn't interrupt. We're thinking some kind of house, or another warehouse, right?"

"Sydney, stop repeating everything we already know and get to the point." Gage exploded.

She plowed on hurriedly. "We've been looking through his records dating as far back as they go. What if nothing is showing up because the property isn't listed under his name? He's smart; he would know that we would look for him. I'm betting he would take any precaution he could."

"You have a point." Gage admitted apologetically.

"Yeah, but Sydney, whose name would he use? It could be anything, which really doesn't narrow it down for us at all." Trivette pointed out.

"Yeah, but think about it. Collins isn't going to use some random name; he would use one that's important to him. Check for property listed under Victor LaRue." She told Trivette.

"Nothing." Trivette said after a second. "Next guess?"

"Try Angela's name." Sydney told him.

"Still nothing."

"Try…" she let names run through her head. "Try Angela Collins." Trivette typed the name in.

"Bingo." he said.

"Are you serious?" Gage asked.

"Yeah. Looks like Angela is the proud owner of an old mansion in the middle of nowhere. According to this, she bought it three years ago."

"You've got to be kidding me." Sydney said.

"This jackass is thorough." Gage said. "How far away is it?"

"A little over an hour. Let's get a chopper."

Another Ranger nearby heard him and responded. "Sorry Trivette, all the choppers are out; we've got two high speed chases and a search and rescue. I can have one for you when they come in."

"That's not good enough." Trivette told him. "We need one now."

"Sorry Trivette. You can call dispatch, but it's going to be a few hours at least."

"They don't have a few hours!" Trivette told him angrily.

"Looks like we're driving." Gage said.

"Then let's go." Sydney told him.

Within a matter of seconds they were on their way.

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><p>The sight of Angela lying in bed waiting for him was almost too much for him to handle. He felt as though he would be content to just sit and watch her for hours if he had to. But this time, he was in charge. He didn't have to just watch her. He sat next to her on the bed and stroked her cheek. He smoothed her hair off her face gently, in no hurry whatsoever. He wanted to enjoy every second of this and the best way to do that was to do it slowly.<p>

Because of the way her arms were stretched toward the bedposts, the top he'd chosen for her had risen up, exposing an inch of her toned stomach. He traced it with his finger, never taking his eyes off hers, loving the way she shivered at his touch. "I have waited so long for this." He told her softly, removing the gag and placing his lips against hers, kissing her gently at first, then harder. She turned her head from side to side and pressed it down into the pillow away from him. He rolled on top of her, straddling her with his legs and placed one hand behind her head, pushing it forward and pressing her mouth to his. His other hand was behind her back, forcing it to arch and making her body meld against his.

He released her head and placed his mouth against her neck, nuzzling it gently.

"Please, Victor." She said, her eyes full of tears.

"Please what?" he asked her, breathing hard.

"Let my parents go." She begged him. "I'll do anything you want me to, just don't hurt them. Please. If you love me, you won't hurt them."

Collins sat up abruptly in anger. "I don't believe you!" he yelled at her. "Here I am, proving my love to you and all you can talk about is your parents? I'm doing all of this for you. I'm killing them for you, Angel. If we just left here and ran away, they would never stop looking for you and we would always be looking over our shoulders. You don't want to live your life like that, do you?"

"Please…" she said again, softly.

"Tell you what." He bent close to her. "If you say another word, I'll put that back on." He jabbed his finger toward the gag he'd set on the floor. "Believe me; I would enjoy myself just as much as I would without it. So shut up, I don't want to hear another word about your damn parents. Besides," he told her conspiratorially, "the better you are, the longer your parents live."

He stretched his body flat against hers, once again smothering her protests with his mouth. His hands were on her waist and she felt the full weight of his muscular body on her own. Mercifully, he shifted his weight to his knees as he moved his hands to her neck. He rubbed her shoulders and her arms as he planted a row of kisses along her collarbone. She closed her eyes and tried to focus her mind elsewhere as he kissed the area closer and closer to the top of the corset. She felt his hands leave her shoulders and heard the sound of ripping material. He pulled the shreds of the top out from underneath her and tossed it aside, groaning with pleasure at the sight of her breasts, hidden only by the thin material of her bra. That could stay on for now, he decided. She was breathing hard out of fear and anticipation and that only turned him on more. He kissed her everywhere, slowly making his way from the tops of her breasts down across her toned stomach and eventually ending at the top of her skirt. He pulled a knife from his back pocket and used it to cut one of the side seams, nicking Angela's thigh in the process. She yelped and after he'd tossed the skirt on the floor he pressed his mouth to the wound, which was just barely bleeding. He kissed her hip bones and her thighs, traveling down one leg and up the other.

He repeated this ritual over and over, kissing and touching her from top to bottom. She'd resigned herself to what was going to happen and no longer struggled against him. One part of her wished that he would just get it over with; the other part hoped against hope that each minute he spent only kissing her was another chance for help to arrive.

After forty excruciatingly long minutes, he was almost ready. He sat up and unbuttoned his shirt slowly, wanting to feel her bare skin against his. He shrugged it off and kissed Angela again, arching her back so that their stomachs were pressed together. He started moving his hips against hers while he kissed her, relishing every moment of this bliss. After another ten minutes, he decided that it was time.

"Are you ready, Angel?"

* * *

><p>Downstairs, Walker struggled hopelessly against his bindings while Collins tortured his daughter. He couldn't take his eyes off the television, as much as he wanted to look away. He was so used to being able to save everyone, to take care of everyone. It killed him that the one time he wasn't in a position to do his job was the one time that his wife and daughter's lives were at stake. It broke his heart to hear Angela begging Collins not to kill him and Alex, promising to do whatever he wanted if only he would let them live. When Collins ripped her shirt off Walker had struggled so violently that he caused the chair to tip over. He felt pain move through his shoulder and the side of his head but the fall did nothing to help him break free. Out of desperation, he continued to struggle and tried to call for help but there was no one to waltz in and save them all this time. With a sinking feeling Walker realized that Collins was right about one thing: he had failed his daughter.<p> 


	17. Chapter 17

**Hi guys! So, it all ends here. I hope you've enjoyed the story, thanks to all who read and reviewed!**

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><p>Trivette kept the gas pedal pressed to the floor during the whole drive. Gage stuck the bubble siren on the roof to help part the traffic. Thankfully, there weren't many cars on the road and they made their final turn after only fifty minutes of driving. Gage silenced the siren as they crept closer to their destination. They turned onto the dirt road and followed it to the very end.<p>

"Look." Sydney pointed from the back seat to a windowless black van. "It looks like someone is home."

The three got out of the car, closing the doors softly. Drawing their weapons, they moved toward the house.

"Should we call for backup?" Gage asked quietly.

Trivette shook his head. "Collins is tricky. If we get too many people out here, he could react. It's better if we go in with stealth on our side.

"Okay." Gage agreed. "Let's do it."

They breached the front door and walked into the house slowly, giving their eyes time to adjust to the sudden darkness; there were no lights on. They walked through the hallway clearing room after room, all empty.

"Should we split up?" Sydney whispered. "This place is huge."

Trivette shook his head again. "I don't like it. We stay together. If you see Collins, shoot first and ask questions later."

"Copy that." Gage and Sydney said together as they moved into the next room. It too was empty.

"Wait, stop." Gage said. "Do you hear that?" There was a faint knocking noise coming from farther down the hallway, mixing with the soft sounds of someone crying.

"Yeah, I hear it." Sydney answered.

Gage led the way out of the room and continued slowly down the hall with his gun in the air. All the rooms on the way were empty. The knocking noise grew louder as they got closer to the end of the hall and now other noises were becoming clearer: it sounded like someone was watching television. They cautiously made their way to the end of the hallway where their only option was to turn left. They stopped abruptly when they heard Collins speaking. "Are you ready, Angel?"

The three Rangers burst into the room and took in the scene in front of them. Collins wasn't anywhere to be seen but Walker was there, bound to a chair that had tipped over. Trivette ran to his partner and fixed the chair while Gage hunted for something sharp to cut the ties. He ran off in search of a kitchen while Trivette started unwrapping the tape around Walker's mouth. "Hang in there partner." He told him. He heard Sydney's voice behind him.

"Oh my God."

Trivette whirled around and saw what he'd missed before: the television screens. Alex appeared to be unharmed but it was obvious that Angela was in trouble.

"We have to get to them." Walker said breathlessly. His head was bleeding where he'd struck the floor and his body was still stiff from being hit with the van and the taser. "I can't let this happen." He told Trivette desperately, still struggling pointlessly. Just then, Gage returned with a knife in hand. He quickly cut the ties binding Walker's arms and legs and he and Trivette pulled Walker to his feet.

"Where are they?" Sydney asked.

"I don't know exactly. He took them upstairs. This way." He led the charge up the stairs and ran ahead of the rest, opening doors at random and checking inside. Trivette was right behind him checking the doors Walker didn't open. Sydney and Gage brought up the rear and kept a watchful eye out for Collins. They came to the last door in the hall and when Walker tried the knob he found that it was locked. He shoved his good shoulder against the door but it didn't budge. Backing up, he kicked it in and it splintered with a loud crack. He kicked it again and the door fell into the room.

Alex squealed in surprise when the door went flying in and Walker ran to her. He and Trivette worked to free her from the handcuffs and when her hands were free she pulled her shirt closed. "Did you find Angela?" she asked breathlessly after Walker removed the gag and hugged her tight.

"She's here somewhere. Sydney and Gage are going to go get you out of here; Trivette and I will go find Angela. Are you sure you're okay?"

She nodded anxiously. "I'm fine. Walker, find her fast, God only knows what he's doing to her."

"I will." He kissed her forehead and Alex allowed Gage and Sydney to steer her downstairs. She heard the sounds of the televisions and went into the room where Walker had been held captive. Her eyes fell on Angela's screen. "Oh my God." She said, pressing a hand to her mouth. "Hurry, Walker." She felt Sydney's arm pulling her.

"Alex, we can't stay here. We have to get out of the house."

"I'm staying." She said stubbornly. "I need to know what happens. You two should go help them find her before he…" her voice faltered. "I'm not leaving."

Sydney and Gage pulled her away from the screens. "Yes, you are. It's not safe in here." Gage told her. She reluctantly allowed herself to be pulled out of the house but wouldn't go farther than the car, instead choosing to stare intently at the house with her hands clasped in front of her.

Trivette and Walker made their way up to the third floor of the house where it was even darker than the first and second floors. They groped the walls looking for doorknobs, testing the ones they found to see if they were locked. Walker tapped Trivette on the shoulder and pointed to the end of the hall where light peeked out from underneath one of the doors. As they moved closer they could hear frenzied movement inside.

"He's mine." Walker told Trivette softly. "I'm taking him down."

"Here." Trivette offered him his gun but Walker shook his head.

"No. We're doing this my way." Sending the door flying with a single kick, Walker braced himself for the fight.

* * *

><p>Angela felt like she was dreaming; surely this wasn't happening to her. Collins was still straddling her as he unbuttoned and unzipped his pants. Apparently that brief break from touching her was too much to handle because he was back on top of her in a flash. His movement was hurried now and more aggressive. The movement of his hips was making the bed shake and he bit down on her lip painfully. Just as Angela braced herself for what was coming, he stopped, keeping his mouth on hers to keep her quiet. Then she heard it too: a loud banging noise downstairs, much closer than anything else she'd heard all night.<p>

She took the opportunity to call for help but she had barely opened her mouth before Collins clamped his hand down painfully. She struggled to throw him off, to give whoever was here some kind of indication that she was upstairs but Collins was strong.

"Stop struggling." He hissed. Keeping his hand over Angela's mouth he leaned off the bed, picked up his gun and set it on the bed next to her so that it couldn't be seen from the door. He leaned over the other side and picked up the gag he'd used earlier, wrapping it tightly around her head. Her muffled screams annoyed him and he slapped her before pressing a finger to his lips in warning. Without another word, he bent his head and kissed her chest again, gripping her waist with his hands to keep her quiet and still. Collins kept one ear trained on the door, waiting to hear footsteps or some other evidence of approach. He had to give Walker credit: the only evidence of his arrival was the door flying off its hinges.

The sight of Collins sitting on top of his daughter almost pushed Walker over the edge. He was a snap away from telling Trivette to empty his clip but the desire to make Collins pay slowly was far stronger.

Collins paused mid-action with his face against Angela's collarbone when the door broke down and his lack of reaction put Walker's nerves on edge. Collins appeared to be unarmed but he was far too calm for Walker's liking.

"Get off of her." Walker ordered him.

Collins pulled his face away from Angela but didn't get off the bed completely.

"Okay Cowboy, no need to be overzealous." Collins said, raising his hands defensively. In a flash he rolled away from Angela and off the far side of the bed, grabbing his gun on the way down. He ducked down behind the bed and opened fire, aiming his weapon over Angela's bare body. Walker and Trivette retreated and pressed themselves against the wall outside the room.

"Give it up, Collins!" Trivette yelled. "You've got nowhere to go!" Trivette fired into the room well above the bed. Excellent shot though he was, he didn't want to risk hitting Angela. Collins fired back using Angela's naked stomach as a base to steady his arm. She was going to be his way out of this. For her part, Angela stayed as still as possible and pressed herself low into the bed. She couldn't help but scream when shots were fired; she felt like she was trapped in the no man's land between two trenches.

"Cover me." Walker mouthed. Trivette nodded and opened fire into the far corner of the room. Collins stayed down as Walker ran in to the room and flew over the bed, tackling Collins as he was reloading. He fell on top of Collins with all his weight and bashed his head into the floor. He let a solid punch connect with Collins' cheekbone but reeled when Collins pistol whipped him with the butt of his gun.

Trivette raced in to the room to get Angela out of harm's way. He quickly undid the cuffs around her wrists and ankles as she pulled the gag away from her mouth. Trivette grabbed her hand, pulled her off the bed and pushed her toward the far wall. He positioned himself in front of her, unable to leave his partner alone with this madman. Angela cowered behind his defensive stance, one hand on his shoulder the other held close to her chest.

Walker stood up and kicked Collins' gun away as the latter stirred on the ground.

"Stand up and fight." Walker taunted him. "Pretend to be a man, for once in your life."

Collins stood and ran at Walker full force, digging his shoulder into Walker's gut and sending them both flying backwards. They crashed into the wall opposite and Trivette could feel Angela's hand gripping his shoulder. He'd missed his opportunity though; he no longer had a clear shot of Collins.

Walker aimed a right hook into Collins head and followed it up with a roundhouse kick. Collins fell but popped right back up.

"You can't beat me, Cowboy." Collins baited him.

"Just watch me." Walker responded. He kicked Collins in the back of the knee and connected a well-placed uppercut to Collins' jaw. Walker hit him over and over and blood spattered onto the bed and the walls around him. After a few minutes, Collins went down and he didn't get back up. Walker kicked him in the head for good measure before deciding that too much overkill would be hard to explain in court. He planned to put this son of a bitch away until the state killed him. He picked up Collins' gun and backed away from him, moving to where Trivette was still standing in front of Angela.

"You good, partner?" Trivette asked him. Walker nodded.

Walker looked over Trivette's shoulder at Angela. "Are you okay?" Before she could answer, there was a snarl of rage that came from behind Walker. Collins had grabbed the knife he'd used on Angela's clothes and stood up. He was running toward Walker with the weapon held high. Without thinking, Angela grabbed Trivette's gun out of his hand and fired. Her first shot missed Collins by a mile but her second one hit him square in the chest. She kept firing until the only sound that came from pulling the trigger was an empty click.

The look on Collins' face was one of pure shock. "Angel." He gurgled. He seemed to fall in slow motion and he came to rest face down, the knife tumbling out of his hand and clattering across the floor.

Angela lowered the gun slowly as Walker stepped into her line of sight, blocking her view of Collins' dead body. Her eyes were wide but they were empty. He took the gun from her hand and waited for her cues, not wanting to make her uncomfortable. She wrapped her arms around herself and leaned toward him, pressing her forehead to Walker's chest. He wrapped his arms around her bare body and held her gently as she shook with pent-up sobs. The sounds of heavy footsteps reached them as Alex ran into the room, closely followed by Gage and Sydney. At the sound of the gunshots Alex had taken off running toward the house and the other two had followed, weapons drawn. They watched Walker take the gun from Angela and wrap her in a hug. Crying with relief, Alex went to her family and wrapped her arms around her daughter too.

"Did Angela do that?" Gage asked Trivette quietly. He nodded.

"Good for her." Sydney responded.

"Can we get out of here?" Angela asked quietly a few minutes later, after she had comported herself.

Walker obliged, letting go of Angela and placing one hand gently behind her back.

"Is there something I can wear? I don't want to walk out of here like this." She said desperately, suddenly panicked.

"I don't know where he put our clothes." Alex told her apologetically. She was still wearing the jeans and ruined shirt Collins had given her.

Walker shrugged out of his shirt, a long-sleeved button down. She slipped it on and it fell almost to her knees.

"Thanks." She said gratefully, folding her arms again and allowing him to wrap an arm protectively around her shoulder.

With Walker on one side of her and Alex on the other, she left the room. Trivette, Gage, and Sydney followed behind them, leaving Collins' body and the nightmare of Victor LaRue behind them forever.


End file.
